Didn’t Dan die at the end of Roseanne? Recently, Roseanne Barr discussed the return of John Goodman and what fans can expect from ABC’s upcoming reboot, Slash Film reports.
The sitcom revival will feature the return of original cast members John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Michael Fishman, Johnny Galecki and, of course, Roseanne Barr.
During a panel at this year’s TCA winter press tour, Barr addressed the original Roseanne series finale, where it is revealed Goodman’s character, Dan, died:
“A lot of the reason that I [had Dan die] was to add another layer of freshness for people who were going to watch the series over and over. In the third episode of Roseanne, Dan builds Roseanne a writing room and Roseanne is a writer. So I think that’s kind of what I always wanted to do [that] and that was always what I had in mind for the completion of the tenth season.”
So how is Dan alive? Showrunner Bruce Helford explained:
There’s little clues and openings as we go along that explain certain things as much as possible jibe with the original ending there. There was a lot of dream sequence to it because Roseanne was coming out of a dream and that affected certain things. And then Roseanne’s writing is acknowledged as well and her work as a writer and how that affected things.”
And while Dan is coming back, some characters will not be returning. Aside from Mark (actor Glenn Quinn died in 2002), it looks like Jerry Garcia Conner (Dan and Roseanne’s fourth kid) as well as Jackie’s son, Andy, will not make an appearance:
We do mention Jerry Garcia Conner in, I think, the first show. He is on a fishing boat in Alaska, and we haven’t dealt with Andy, Laurie’s son, yet, either, but we had so many stories to tell over the arc of these nine episodes, that we were hoping for another season to bring more clarity to those characters.”
The new season of Roseanne premieres on ABC on March 27th.
