John Goodman Opens Up About ‘Roseanne’ Revival And Dan Conner Being Alive

Published on January 10, 2018.

ABC/Adam Rose

Fans of the beloved sitcom Roseanne were ecstatic to hear that 21 years after the series came to an end in 1997, it was being revived in 2018! They were even more excited to hear that the original cast would all be returning as well including Roseanne Barr, Sara Gilbert, Laurie Metcalf, Michael Fishman, Lecy Goranson, and yes even John Goodman as Dan Conner.

Of course, Goodman’s character returning and being alive and well is a shock to fans because Dan Conner died from a heart attack in the original series, but Goodman has opened up about being a part of the revival and admitted he “didn’t really care” how they explained his character being alive.

During the show’s  panel at the 2018 TCA Winter Press Tour, he was blunt about how he felt about the writers explaining his death away. “I didn’t really care,” he said as the room burst into laughter. “I thought it was a clever way to do it, handle it and get it out of the way.”

At the panel the cast confirmed that the revival series will address Dan’s mortality right away, and Roseanne Barr hinted that his non-death may become part of a puzzle that continues through the season.

Either way, both fans, the cast and Goodman himself are happy to have the beloved actor back and a major part to the Roseanne series once again, and as he explained even though it had been 20 years since the show came to an end and everyone went their separate directions, it felt like nothing had changed when they all came back together for the revival. “It was exactly like we took a week off and came back to it, and the effect was so strange that it was remarkable,” Goodman explained about how he felt when filming began. “The first time I went on the set, the hair on my arm stood up because it was like they sucked me right back in.”

All will, hopefully, become clear when Roseanne returns with a special one-hour premiere on Tuesday, March 27 at 8 p.m. on ABC.

ABC