The new special airs in May on Lifetime.
The Dance Moms girls are not mincing words in regard to the former cast members who couldn't make time for the reunion.
During the upcoming Dance Moms: The Reunion special, participating former cast members including JoJo Siwa, Kendall Vertes, Brooke and Paige Hyland, Chloe Lukasiak and Kalani Hilliker took the opportunity to shade their co-stars who didn't show up. In a brand-new clip, the reality TV stars do not dance around the topic of Nia Sioux, Maddie Ziegler and Mackenzie Ziegler deciding to skip out.
"I think everyone knows who's not here," laughs Kendall as clips of the three missing dancers play. "Maybe they just don't think they needed this."
"Some people might still be processing and it's hard to talk about some of the stuff we went through," says Paige as Brooke adds, "They closed the book and they don't want to open it up and backtrack."
The video then cuts to the moms, along with Kalani and JoJo, in another room discussing the absent members of the Dance Moms family. Whereas Paige, Brooke and Chloe were willing to give the three dancers not in attendance the benefit of the doubt, Kira Girard and JoJo were a little less relenting.
"They chose not to be here and at the end of the day, they've done several interviews that [they] say they don't even want this a part of their life," says Girard, Kalani's mom.
JoJo shared that she too was upset by the Zieglers and Nia not showing up to film, pointing to Kelly and her daughters as a prime example of why they should still have shown up even if they have mixed feelings about the show. Kelly, Brooke and Paige left the series in season 4 after the mom got into a physical altercation with Abby Lee Miller.
"It's kind of sad to see 'cause I look at, especially your kids being here, just going off of how you exited the show and for you to be able to come here and be like, 'Look, I still care about this,' it's really cool to see and it's like you still care about your past," JoJo says.
She adds, "Them not being here is kind of like, 'Let me erase my past, pretend it never happened and shove it down the drain' when it's like, that's why you are who you are."
"Here's the thing, they're not here so why are they still trying to make headlines with it? Don't talk about Dance Moms if you don't want to be a part of it," Kendall says. "It's literally the stepping stone into who we are today. We would not be here without Dance Moms."
In December, ET spoke with JoJo at the Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic special and she spilled the tea on the highly anticipated reunion, which comes five years after the show ended following a nine-season run.
"We got squads, it's good! There's a lot," she said at the time.
That interview came after a photo of the group while filming made its way onto social media and amped up fans for the tell-all project. Under the photo, dozens of commenters asked about the missing members, prompting JoJo to respond in the comments,
"Grateful for this day! For everyone wondering about the few people missing, Everyone was invited today but only some wanted to be here," she wrote in December.
It is currently unknown what role, if any, Abby Lee Miller will play in the reunion. Also in attendance for the special were moms Christi Lukasiak (via FaceTime), Jill Vertes and Jessalyn Siwa.
Dance Moms: The Reunion airs on Lifetime on May 1.
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