Is Roseanne Returning to 'The Conners'? The Show Has Brought Back OG Characters
After Roseanne Barr was fired from the 'Roseanne' revival, the series was retooled without her and renamed 'The Conners.'
Updated March 19 2024, 12:52 p.m. ET
ABC's reboot series The Conners is one of the biggest examples of a TV series reinventing itself. Viewers were elated when Roseanne returned for a new season in March 2018, and then stunned when Roseanne Barr was fired from the show just two months later.
The series was retooled without Barr, renamed The Conners, and is now in its sixth season.
But will Roseanne return to The Conners? There have been some other returning characters, after all.
Is Roseanne coming back to 'The Conners'?
Any rumors of Roseanne's return have been greatly exaggerated: She is almost certainly not returning to The Conners. Her character was killed off in Season 1, Episode 1, following knee surgery. The episode revealed that she had become secretly addicted to painkillers.
Therefore, it would be impossible for Roseanne to come back unless her character appeared in some kind of flashback or dream sequence.
Back in 2022, executive producers Bruce Helford and Dave Caplan talked about "someone coming from years past" for Season 5, which led many viewers to wonder if Barr would be brought back onto the show that used to be named after her. But this character turned out to be Bobo, a bully played by Eric Allan Kramer who appeared once in the original show's first season.
Who else might come back on 'The Conners'?
When it comes to other original Roseanne characters who have appeared on The Conners, we've seen everyone from the second Becky (aka Sarah Chalk, only this time playing a character named Andrea) to Crystal (who may have an important Season 6 storyline) to Bev to Johnny and more.
As for who viewers want to see next, some folks on Reddit were disappointed when the surprise Season 5 cameo from an old character turned out to be Bobo instead of Ziggy.
Ziggy, an old friend of Dan Conner's played by Jay O. Sanders, was only in two episodes between 1990 and 1991, but fans loved him — and his connection to Dan would make him easy to write in.
"I for real was convinced it’s Ziggy. That’s a return worth hyping up to the extent they have," wrote one viewer at the time.
"Bring back Ziggy please!!!!" wrote another.
Whoever might return in the future, fans of The Conners are excited for any blast from the past. It just won't include Roseanne Barr, whose association with the series seems to be well and truly over.
The Conners airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.
