Roseanne cast: Where are they now?

Roseanne, then and now

After nine seasons, Roseanne came to a close on May 20, 1997. Starring Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Michael Fishman, and Sara Gilbert, among others, the sitcom began in October 1988 and inspired a revival in March 2018, which then spun-off into The Conners in October that same year. Take a look back at the original show’s stars, then and now.

Roseanne Barr (Roseanne Conner)

Roseanne Barr led her namesake show for nearly a decade, playing Roseanne Conner while also making appearances in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) and on The Larry Sanders Show. Following Roseanne‘s wrap, Barr earned credits for The Roseanne Show, Cecil B. DeMented (2000), and Home on the Range (2004), ran for president in 2012, and served as a judge on Last Comic Standing.

After returning for the 2018 revival season, Barr sent out a racist tweet about President Obama’s former senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, which led to ABC canceling the series and retooling it as The Conners, without the presence of Barr. She is expected to release a comedy special for Fox Nation in 2023.

John Goodman (Dan Conner)

After racking up roles in The Survivors (1983), Revenge of the Nerds (1984), C.H.U.D. (1984), The Big Easy (1986), and Raising Arizona (1987), John Goodman joined Roseanne as Dan Conner. Goodman picked up Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe win for the part, and followed up the gig with turns in Blues Brothers 2000 (1998), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Monsters, Inc. (2001), The Artist (2011), Argo (2012), 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), and Atomic Blonde (2017). Additional TV credits include Treme, Alpha House, and The Righteous Gemstones.

Despite Dan Conner (decades-old spoiler alert) dying in the original run of Roseanne, the revival revealed that didn’t actually happen. The patriarch of the Conner family and Goodman returned for the 2018 series and continued on to The Conners.

Laurie Metcalf (Jackie Harris)

Laurie Metcalf landed one of her first major onscreen roles as Jackie Harris on Roseanne and won three Emmy awards during her run. In addition to playing Roseanne’s sister, Metcalf appeared in such films as Scream 2 (1997), Bulworth (1998), and Stop-Loss (2008), as well as voicing Andy’s mom in the Toy Story franchise.

She earned an Oscar nomination for her turn as Saoirse Ronan’s mother in Lady Bird (2017), though most of her work is split between TV and theater. Prominent TV credits include Desperate Housewives, Getting On, The Big Bang Theory, and Hacks, for which she won another Emmy. She has also won two Tony awards, for A Doll’s House, Part 2 in 2017 and Three Tall Women in 2018.

Lecy Goranson (Becky Conner)

Lecy Goranson found her spot on Roseanne as Becky Conner-Healy, originating the role of Roseanne’s daughter.

The young actress, who made her on-screen debut on the sitcom, earned subsequent credits for the films Boys Don’t Cry (1999) and The Extra Man (2010) and shows such as Sex and the City and Inside Amy Schumer. She earned a nomination from the Critics Choice Awards in 2021 for her performance on The Conners.

Sarah Chalke (Becky Conner-Healy)

Sarah Chalke picked up the part of Becky Conner-Healy from Lecy Goranson, playing the young woman in the latter half of the show’s initial run.

Chalke has since spent much of her career on the small screen, appearing on Scrubs, Mad Love, Cougar Town, How I Met Your Mother, and Firefly Lane, in addition to lending her voice to Beth on Rick and Morty. She showed up in the first season of The Conners in 2018, though not as Becky. Chalke played Andrea, a rich woman who (ironically) wanted Becky to be her surrogate.

Sara Gilbert (Darlene Conner)

Then a child star, Sara Gilbert booked her first major gig as Darlene Conner-Healy on Roseanne. The actress went on to fill her résumé with roles in High Fidelity (2000), Riding in Cars With Boys (2001), and 80 for Brady (2023).

Like Chalke, though, Gilbert primarily works on television, creating CBS’ The Talk, which she co-hosted from 2010 to 2019, and popping up on shows like The Big Bang Theory and Atypical, in addition to costarring on The Conners.

Michael Fishman (D.J. Conner)

Michael Fishman made his onscreen debut as D.J. Conner on Roseanne. The young actor continued to act in the ’90s, popping up in episodes of Hitz, Seinfeld, and Walker, Texas Ranger, before stepping back from the spotlight in the 2000s.

Fishman returned to acting in the 2016 film Undrafted and reprised his role as D.J. in The Conners from 2018 to 2022. The actor released a statement in August 2022 noting, “I was told I would not be returning for season 5,” suggesting it may not have been his choice to leave the series.

Johnny Galecki (David Healy)

Years before he was The Big Bang Theory‘s Leonard Hofstadter, Johnny Galecki was Roseanne‘s David Healy.

Galecki filled the following years with appearances in I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), The Opposite of Sex (1998), Vanilla Sky (2001), Hancock (2008), and In Time (2011). His run on The Big Bang Theory lasted from 2007 to 2019, and he popped up in a handful of episodes of The Conners’ first two seasons.