The best way to wrap up Jackie’s arc in The Conners season 7 is to bring back a Roseanne character played by a high-profile actor. After much deliberation, ABC is officially wrapping up the Roseanne spinoff sequel during the 2024-2025 TV season. Born out of the ashes from the shortlived Roseanne revival, The Conners was kicked off by the death of Roseanne Conner in light of Roseanne Barr’s firing from her own show. Since then, it has fully embraced its ensemble nature, although there are still clear main players in the ABC family comedy.
While not officially part of the Conner clan, Jackie has been a regular character in the franchise since Roseanne premiered in 1988. Aside from how she fits into Dan and Roseanne’s family dynamics, she also has her own storylines, and sometimes, they are so much more exciting than what her sister is going through. In The Conners season 6, however, Jackie has finally settled in and retired from the Lunch Box to enjoy her days with Neville. This is a great way to leave the character, but there’s one way to make her overall arc so much more satisfying.
If Roseanne could see how far her sister has come in the last six years of The Conners she would be proud. That said, it’s difficult to notice the small things but improvements in Jackie’s life unless the show brings in someone who was embedded in her past, and among everyone she interacted with in the franchise before, none will have as much impact as see her reunite with George Clooney’s Booker Brooks. When Roseanne premiered, Jackie was dating the original foreman at Wellman Plastics where she and Roseanne worked.
There was no denying that Jackie and Booker’s chemistry was off the charts. They were fun and flirty but were also quite toxic. As handsome and charismatic as Clooney was in the role, Booker was a horrible boyfriend, and yet, Jackie tolerated him. Bringing Booker back into her life in The Conners season 7, albeit briefly, would crystallize how much Jackie’s character has developed. She can still be very overeager and reckless, but she’s now more mature and responsible. She is in a stable marriage with Neville and is content with her life.
By reuniting Booker with this new and better version of Jackie, The Conners can show his surprise at the life that she has made for herself. Granted that she remains in Lanford and continues to hang out with the same people, the fact that she has her own home, has a husband, and is now financially stable enough to retire is impressive, considering where she started in Roseanne. Booker can be the viewers’ perspective in all of this as the show does an in-retrospect of her life.
The Conners have brought back legacy characters from Roseanne as it helps the show establish a connection between it and its parent series, especially in light of the spinoff losing Roseanne. So, there’s a precedent when it comes to Booker returning. For what it’s worth, Booker still not returning in The Conners isn’t for lack of trying. Executive producer Bruce Helford has revealed (via The Wrap) that he has asked Clooney multiple times, but he always declines. However, considering Clooney’s stature, it may be virtually impossible to convince him to reprise his old small-screen role.
Clooney is now well-regarded as one of the biggest stars in showbusiness, and he hasn’t returned to network TV since his days on ER.
His popularity in Hollywood has significantly changed since his stint on Roseanne. Clooney is now well-regarded as one of the biggest stars in showbusiness, and he hasn’t returned to network TV since his days on ER. He did star in Hulu’s Catch-22 from 2019, but he also directed and produced the project. In his proposed The Conners return, he will only be an actor playing a role. Because of this, it’s very difficult to imagine that he would seriously consider making a cameo in The Conners season 7, even though Helford supposedly maintains a good relationship with him.
While Helford has established that he has long been courting Clooney to return as Booker with no success, there are some factors at play this time that could finally convince him to join the show. Firstly, and perhaps the most important element to highlight is that The Conners is ending, and this may be the final send-off for the Roseanne franchise. Cons
