The Conners co-executive producer Bruce Helford talks about the chances of bringing back missing characters in its final season. Born out of the unexpected cancellation of the Roseanne revival, The Conners had a rocky start in 2018. Losing Roseanne was a major issue for the show’s future, especially considering how central she was to the original series. Luckily, Helford and his team were able to transform the sequel spinoff into an ensemble show. After more than 100 episodes, The Conners will enter its final year, and understandably, there are questions about what to expect from its final six episodes.
Speaking with TV Line on the heels of The Conners season 6 finale, Helford talks about what lies ahead for Dan and his family as the show’s run comes to an end. Addressing questions about whether season 7 will see the return of missing characters, the showrunner says that they are not ruling anything out. Read the full quote below:
There are some doors we closed because we really felt that it would inhibit the characters and make it more difficult [to write stories for them]. I saw there was a big article, someone talking about the mysteries of disappearing characters from the original run of Roseanne. Certain things are still up in the air a little bit, and weve asked ourselves if these things can be reintroduced, and if theres a way to do it realistically.
The lottery was something we wont ever be bringing back, and we pretty much decided that Jackies first marriage was part of the dream. We had to decide when the dream started, and at the point we decided the dream started, everything from that point on was not [canon].
As a core character in Roseanne, being Roseanne and Dan’s son, DJ was brought back when the show was originally revived. Unfortunately, Michael Fishman’s character became increasingly insignificant. By The Conners season 5, DJ was unexpectedly written out of the project. A couple of years later, there hasn’t been any clear reason for his exit, although Helford’s quote implies that they simply ran out of stories to tell about him. Considering the increased focus on Darlene and her family, coupled with Becky’s arc, as well as Dan and Jackie’s respective storylines, it’s understandable why DJ got pushed out.
Still, despite his absence up until The Conners season 6, there have been hopes that he would eventually return. Aside from seeing Fishman back in the role for the final time, DJ’s return is vital for the series to end in a satisfying way. Ignoring him in the last couple of years already contradicts the very core of the Roseanne franchise, which is that family is everything. While it cannot fully make amends for that because the show is already ending on a limited run, bringing him back would at least ensure the Conners will be complete at the end.
The Conners Season 6 Ben Twist Sets Up Roseannes Decades-Long Plot Hole Resolution
Ben makes an unexpected decision in The Conners season 6, episode 11, which sets up the resolution of a long-standing Roseanne plot hole.
With just six episodes left, Helford and his writers need to be discerning with the plots that they will tackle in The Conners season 7. However, seeing DJ should be at the top of their priority list, considering his ties to Roseanne and the titular character. At the very least, he appears in the series finale with a proper swan song for the beloved Lanford clan.
