Roseanne Spinoff The Conners Starts Production, Photo Released

Screen Rant

Roseanne Spinoff The Conners Starts Production, Cast Photo Released

By Dan Zinski

Published Aug 31, 2018

ABC's Roseanne spinoff The Conners begins production, and there’s a new set photo that shows the family all together at the famous kitchen table.

ABC’s Roseanne spinoff The Conners has begun production, and there’s a new set photo that shows the family all together at the famous kitchen table - without Roseanne. The spinoff is set to air on ABC beginning in October in the time slot originally earmarked for season 2 of the Roseanne revival. Season 1 of the revived Roseanne debuted to huge ratings earlier this year, and was quickly renewed for a second season.

What happened next for ABC’s ratings winner is a story that dominated headlines throughout the summer. Star Roseanne Barr tweeted a racist remark about former U.S. President Barack Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett, leading to a massive backlash that included ABC canceling Roseanne. The network later struck a deal with Barr that allowed them to move forward with a spinoff of the series focused on the other members of the family. According to star John Goodman, Roseanne herself will be killed off and his character Dan will become a mopey widower.

As season 1 of The Conners approaches, the show has released a BTS photo from the first day of production, giving fans their first glimpse of the Conner family without Roseanne. In the image, the show’s cast sits around the iconic kitchen table, but of course Roseanne Barr is nowhere to be seen. See the image below:

As the photo shows, the young Conner grandchildren are all present for the new show. No doubt those characters will become even more important as the show moves into its new post-Roseanne reality. The new series is certain to focus heavily on Darlene (Sara Gilbert) and her struggles as a single mom raising two difficult kids. Another big focus will undoubtedly be Dan’s attempts to grapple with life without Roseanne.

Now that it’s been revealed that Roseanne will be killed off, the question is how exactly the show will deal with Roseanne’s demise and how it affects the other characters. At the end of last year’s revival season, Roseanne was shown to be dealing with a serious opioid addiction, so the obvious move is to have her die of an overdose. It will be interesting then to see how long the show lingers on the aftermath of Roseanne’s death. Certainly, the show must pay proper tribute to the character of Roseanne even if the actress who played her has now been banished from the fold. However, there will undoubtedly be a temptation to get beyond all that as quickly as possible and get down to the business of exploring the remaining characters and their own troubles.

It remains to be seen whether The Conners can carry on the tradition of Roseanne without Roseanne.