How the ‘Roseanne’ revival addresses Dan’s death and 3 more plot holes

“Roseanne” returned to ABC Tuesday night with most of its original cast — and Roseanne and the rest of the Conner clan have some explaining to do.

Since the show’s finale in 1997, one of the show’s stars died and the last two seasons of the show got pretty wacky after Roseanne won the lottery. Roseanne and Dan welcomed a fourth child and then there’s that whole thing about Dan dying on the show.

Keep reading to see how the rebooted “Roseanne” deals with these plot holes and more.


On the series finale, Roseanne revealed Dan died of a heart attack.
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Nothing is keeping this Conner down. ABC/Adam Rose
How it happened on the original show: Dan died as the result of Darlene and David’s wedding on season eight. She starts writing about a fictional version of her family in a novel at the series’ end.

How the revival handles it: The show is pretending it never happened. Instead, the show makes light of it during its opening moments. Roseanne calls out to Dan in bed and he wakes up with a start.

When he asks what happened, Roseanne tells him she thought he was dead. He tells her he was simply sleeping.

“Why does everybody always think I’m dead?” Dan asks.

Later in the episode, Dan finds a manuscript of a book Roseanne was working on, presumably the same one from the original series. Dan jokes her book would have “sold like hot cakes” if she didn’t kill off the most interesting character.

Roseanne and Dan had a fourth child, Jerry Garcia, but don’t expect to see him on the revival.
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Roseanne gives birth to Jerry on a tribute episode dedicated to Jerry Garcia. ABC via Amazon
What to know about Jerry: Roseanne gives birth to her second son on season eight who is named in honor of the singer.

How his absence is explained on the revival: Roseanne mentions Jerry in one line on the show’s season premiere as the family says grace.

“Please watch over our son Jerry who’s on that stupid fishing boat, where apparently they don’t get phone calls,” says Roseanne.

Glenn Quinn, who played Becky’s husband, Mark, died in real life.
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Mark and Dan sit down at the Conner family table. ABC via Amazon
What happened after the show ended: After “Roseanne,” Glenn Quinn starred on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” spin-off “Angel.” Quinn died in 2002 as the result of an accidental heroin overdose.

How his death is addressed on the revival: Jackie mentions that Mark also died on the show; however, no details are given on the premiere as to how or when he died.

The series honors his death by naming Darlene’s son Mark.


Both Sarah Chalke and Lecy Goranson who have played Becky Conner appear on the show, but play different roles.
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The two Beckys will play opposite one another on the revival. ABC/Adam Rose
How they balanced the same role on the original show: Goranson and Chalke both played Becky Conner throughout the show’s nine-season run. Goranson first played Becky for the show’s first five seasons. Chalke took on the role for the show’s sixth and seventh seasons. The two split the role on season eight before Chalke played the role on the show’s ninth season.

How both actresses will appear on the revival: Goranson is reprising her original role as Becky Conner while Chalke will play a new character, Andrea. The two will share screen time — and jokes — as Becky offers to be Andrea’s surrogate.

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