Remember when Roseanne and Dan had four children? Or when Jackie was married with a kid of her own?
It’s no secret that The Conners — and before it, the Roseanne revival — have played fast and loose with continuity, specifically when it comes to which characters they’ve swept under the rug (along with Dan’s death and the family’s Season 9 lottery windfall). Some absences have been explained on screen — one of which had to be addressed due to a legacy cast member’s death — while others have been clarified only in conversation with producers. What follows is a list of those explanations.
Roseanne’s Martin Mull (Leon), Fred Willard (Scott), Sandra Bernhard (Nancy), Shelley Winters (Nana Mary), Michael Fishman (DJ) & Johnny Galecki (David) Everett Collection
To be clear, the following is not a complete inventory of Roseanne characters who haven’t resurfaced on The Conners (which now has 100 episodes under its belt). You won’t find out why Leon (Martin Mull) and Nancy (Sandra Bernhard) haven’t visited The Lunch Box, or what ever happened to former Wellman Plastics foreman Booker Brooks (whose “resemblance” to George Clooney was addressed in The Conners‘ Season 3 premiere).
This also isn’t a list of legacy characters who appeared on The Conners but were later written out (such as Michael Fishman’s DJ Conner, Johnny Galecki’s David Healy or Danielle Harris’ Molly Tilden).
What follows is a rundown of characters who have not appeared — and whose absences have been directly addressed (or, in the case of one former spouse, indirectly addressed) since Roseanne was first revived by ABC in 2018.
MARK HEALY
Though Mark’s death was referenced several times during Roseanne Season 10 — Darlene and David’s son was named in his honor — it was never revealed how he passed. (Portrayer Glenn Quinn suffered a fatal drug overdose in 2002, but The Conners never inferred that Mark met a similar fate.)
In The Conners Season 3, Episode 18, “Cheating, Revelations and a Box of Doll Heads,” Becky explained that Mark died in a freak accident. When her roommate Rachel suggested that her stint in rehab was a part of God’s plan, the widow scoffed and said, “The last time [God] helped me, she threw a deer in front of my husband’s motorcycle and he died.” What followed was a cathartic discussion about Mark’s death between Becky and Dan — part of which you can watch above.
Three years later, in Season 6, Episode 7, “Smash and Grab and Happy Death Day,” Becky referenced her late husband to her daughter, Beverly Rose, during a conversation on loss.
JERRY GARCIA CONNER
Despite being absent from Roseanne Season 10, Jerry’s continued existence was confirmed when Roseanne mentioned him being holed up on a fishing boat in Alaska. Yet even after Mom’s death on The Conners, Jerry did not return to Lanford.
Two years later, in The Conners Season 3, Episode 2, “Halloween and the Election vs. the Pandemic,” Becky mentioned in passing that she was one of Dan and Roseanne’s three children (with Darlene and D.J. rounding out the trio), seemingly forgetting about her younger brother born in Roseanne Season 8. Instead of correcting her, though, Dan confirmed Becky’s assertion, declaring that he and Roseanne “had one favorite and two backups.”
Even still, showrunner Bruce Helford maintained as late as October 2020 that Jerry could return in future seasons.
“Dan said he only had three children, but is he so angry at Jerry, for something we learn about later, that he denies him as a son?” Helford mused. “We’ll just have to wait and see.” But he was neither seen nor mentioned again.
ANDY HARRIS
Unlike his cousin Jerry, Jackie’s son Andy has not made an appearance on the Roseanne spinoff because, well… he never actually existed.
“We made a conscious decision that certain years were going to be part of the dream that was revealed at the end of the run of the original Roseanne, and [Andy] was part of the dream,” Helford previously explained. “Andy fell into the same category for us as winning the lottery; [it’s] something we chose not to acknowledge.”
FRED
If Andy has been jettisoned along with the lottery season, it’s safe to assume that Jackie’s baby daddy (played by Michael O’Keefe in Roseanne Seasons 6-8) has also been erased… right?
Fred made his final appearance in Season 8, Episode 10, “Direct to Video,” following his divorce from Jackie. He was not mentioned during Roseanne Season 10, and he hasn’t been mentioned on The Conners.
When Jackie married Neville (played by recurring guest star Nat Faxon) in The Conners‘ Season 4 finale, we asked Helford if Neville represented Jackie’s first or second marriage. “We’re careful not to [have Jackie] say, ‘This is my only marriage,’” he answered. “I think the idea of her having had Fred in her life [remains]. The kid [Andy] is not part of our universe. It’s a multiverse, as you know — the Roseanne multiverse. You never know when we’ll slip into another universe and find someone else.”
Yet, when Jackie and Neville embarked on their honeymoon in The Conners’ Season 5 premiere, Darlene cracked, “I never thought you’d be going on a honeymoon… You’ve gotta admit, your romantic life’s been a bit of a dumpster fire.” That would have been the perfect opportunity for Jackie to speak up and remind her niece that she was married once before. Alas….
Fred also went unmentioned in The Conners Season 6, Episode 7 — aka the spinoff’s 100th episode — when Jackie listed off all the men she’s sought approval from in her life. After her father died (circa Roseanne Season 5), she said she looked to Dan. Fred, who was introduced in Roseanne Season 6, was not on Jackie’s list.
ED CONNER
Oscar- and Emmy-nominated actor Ned Beatty appeared as Dan’s father in six episodes of the original run of Roseanne, between 1989 and 1994. But the traveling salesman was not referenced in 2018’s Roseanne revival season or Season 1 of The Conners — even when Ed’s wife Crystal came over to grieve Roseanne with Dan, Jackie and the rest of the family.
Ed wasn’t mentioned until The Conners Season 2, Episode 13, “Brothers, Babies and Breakdowns,” when Dan came across Dad’s obituary in the local paper. The spinoff then revealed that Dan had not spoken to Ed in 20 years.
That same episode saw Dan reconnect with his half-brother “Little Ed” aka Ed Jr. (now played by Shameless‘ Noel Fisher). Yet neither Crystal nor her other son — Lonnie, from her first marriage to Sonny — were mentioned. Jr. did, however, mention a sister, which would have been Ed and Crystal’s daughter Angela.
Four years later, Crystal resurfaced in The Conners Season 6, Episode 5 — “When Sisters Collide and the Return of the Grifters” — with fresh Ed Sr. intel that conflicted with what we learned in Season 2 of the spinoff.
