With its star sacked, the thought of hit series Roseanne returning again seemed impossible.
But the cast didn’t have to wait too long to find out that a spin-off show, The Conners, would get the green light.
“It was a few weeks before we knew for sure that The Conners would move forward,” co-star Sara Gilbert, who plays Roseanne’s daughter Darlene, tells TV WEEK.
US TV network ABC cancelled the Roseanne reboot in May after Roseanne Barr posted a racist tweet about former US President Barack Obama’s administration staffer Valerie Jarrett. Roseanne was promptly fired.
Long-time cast member Sara plays Darlene.
The network weren’t prepared to give up on the hit show, though.
“They approached us shortly after the cancellation to see if there was a viable way forward,” Sara, 43, says.
It was decided a new show would focus on the family, but without the Conner matriarch, who it’s revealed died from a drug overdose.
“I reached out to Roseanne, but we haven’t spoken yet,” Sara says.
“It [The Conners] allowed us to explore what happens to a family when they move forward without their matriarch. Shows don’t generally get to tackle that in such an honest way.
Sara alongside The Conners co-star John Goodman.
“And we got to pay homage to the character of Roseanne Conner, who means so much to so many people.”
However after the premiere of the new show, Roseanne Barr was less than impressed with how her character was cancelled off the show, which she expressed in a joint statement made with her Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.
“While we wish the very best for the cast and production crew of The Conners, all of whom are deeply dedicated to their craft and were Roseanne’s cherished colleagues, we regret that ABC chose to cancel Roseanne by killing off the Roseanne Conner Character” the statement read.
“That it was done through an opioid overdose lent an unnecessary grim and morbid dimension to an otherwise happy family show.”
Much of the original Roseanne cast have returned in the series, including John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf and Michael Fishman.
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