Why Didn't Fans See Becky Conner on the Season 4 Premiere of 'The Conners'?

When Season 4 of The Conners premiered on Sept. 22, one major character of the series was clearly missing: Becky Conner (Lecy Goranson). For the first time since Season 2, the cast performed before a live studio audience who were all fully vaccinated and masked up. Even some fans appeared in the new season after winning the "You Can Be a Conner" contest.

Episode 1 mainly focused on the fallout between Darlene Conner (Sara Gilbert) and Ben Olinksy (Jay R. Ferguson), which led them to break up, and the planning of Dan Conner (John Goodman) and Louise Goldufski's (Katey Sagal) wedding.

Since Lecy is a regular on The Conners, her absence from the highly anticipated live premiere left some fans confused and wondering if she is still on the show.

There's no need for fans to worry. The reason viewers did not see Becky in Episode 1 is that Lecy Goranson, who portrays the beloved character, was at a charity event. While her character Becky was off on a sobriety retreat, Lecy was back in her hometown of Chicago attending a gala honoring some of our nation's heroes.

The Canal Shores Invitational is an annual celebration for first responders, and Dharma & Greg's Joel Murray hosted this year's event. In an interview with TVLine, the actress explained that the showrunners of the series allowed her to miss the live premiere so she could participate in the event.

She said, "Unfortunately, the event didn't happen last year because of COVID, and it just so happened that this year, it fell during the live show."

Lecy went on to say, "I was very torn, because I love the show, and it's my job — and I did miss my Conners family very much. But I was very happy to be present at the charity event.

"This was my third year going, and it's just a wonderful thing to be a part of. It's important for me to connect with those who are putting their lives on the line for people every single day, and to show my support is something that's a priority for me."

We're happy to report that Becky will be back on The Conners on Sept. 29.

At the end of Season 3, fans saw Becky fresh off her stint in rehab. In a recent interview with TVLine, executive producers of the series Bruce Helford and Dave Caplan discuss Becky's journey recovering from alcoholism.

Dave reveals, "Becky feels like she has her whole life ahead of her again, and she's excited. Her horizon is bigger now, and she's got an opportunity to do a lot of things, and she's going to try to figure out which direction to go in."

He says audiences will "see her trying to find new coping skills for life. Initially, she tries some that maybe aren't tenable in the long term, and they create complications." Bruce adds, "Sobriety is difficult, and it's complicated." Becky is not going to fall off the wagon, "certainly not right now." However, she will quickly find out that "managing sobriety is almost as tough as managing being an alcoholic."

They also teased that fans will see how the co-parenting relationship between Becky and Emilio Rodriguez (Rene Rosado) is affected by her road to recovery. She's not supposed to have any romantic relationships for at least a year, but as Dave stated, "Things don't always go according to plan."

It will be interesting to see how Season 4 unfolds with Becky and her sobriety.

The Conners airs on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST on ABC.