When Roseanne returns to the air next year, there will be a new character bending gender norms.
A source told the outlet that the character will be Mark, the 9-year-old son of Darlene and David, played by Sara Gilbert and Johnny Galecki.
The Roseanne revival will reportedly include a ‘gender creative’ character. The character, 9-year-old Mark, will be the younger son of Darlene and David, played by Sara Gilbert (seated, second from left) and Johnny Galecki (back row, second from left)
New episodes of Roseanne are slated to air in early 2018 on ABC. Above, Roseanne Barr (right) and John Goodman (left) who played the matriarch and patriarch of the Conner family in the original series. The two actors pictured above in May
Casting directors have been looking for a kid who can play ‘sensitive and effeminate’ and ‘displays qualities of both young female and male traits,’ the outlet reports.
The original series followed the working-class Conner family in Illinois, and ran from 1988 to 1997.
Roseanne Barr played the show’s title character, while John Goodman played her husband Dan. The series also followed the lives of their three children: Becky, Darlene and D.J.
Darlene later married David Healy, the younger brother of her sister’s husband Mark. The actor who played Mark, Glenn Quinn, will not be returning to the show because he died of an opioid overdose in 2002, so the new character was to pay homage to him.
The series will also feature their older daughter Harris, age 14, whose premature birth was covered on the original series.
The addition of a ‘gender creative’ character will be a big deal since Roseanne will be airing on ABC, a major network, which generally steers away from controversy.
The revival is set to return to the air for an eight-episode run in early 2018.
