“Easy come, easy go” isn’t necessarily an adage that readily applies to the Conner family, for whom the troubles never end. But on its way to joining other TV shows ending their runs in 2025, The Conners has allowed a glimmer of financial hope to surface, albeit on the other side of an emotional rubicon stemming back to the medication-related death of matriarch Roseanne.
That particular thematic throughline led to one of The Conners‘ biggest fights yet between Becky and Dan, and one can only hope their harsh finger-pointing regarding Roseanne’s death was the most vitriolic this final season will get. When Lecy Goranson spoke with CinemaBlend about that dramatic tipping point, I asked how she felt about putting Roseanne’s death back in the spotlight for this final season, and here’s what she told me:
I thought it was really moving and powerful, and really smart on the writers part. And it just felt right.
Honestly, it’s hard to think of a more applicable way for the Conner family to find fortune than for them to have to first return to their biggest traumas. But it’s clear that both Becky and Dan (and likely others) have stored away feelings of guilt, shame and blame for enough years that it’s all in danger of boiling over.
But if they’re able to actually land a courtroom victory here by proving that Roseanne was being taken advantage of by the phramaceutical industry, and that the people in charge of her healthcare were legally to blame for allowing her overdose to even be a possibility, that could possibly start the full-on healing process where Dan and his kids can let go of some of their more negative feelings.
It’s still very much a battle for now, however, and Lecy Goranson talked about how The Conners has always been more than just a traditional sitcom in the way that its titular clan suffers the way real families do. In her words:
As we know, whether things are tied up with a bow on a sitcom, that’s not what happens in real life. These things, – family events, traumas, powerful things that happen in families – have long-term effects. And I think that there was a real sense of injustice what happened to Roseanne. And I think it’s, it’s very much aligned with the Connors to have kind of a David and Goliath situation, and want to battle the giant.
To be sure, the sitcom hasn’t ever let Roseanne’s death and legacy fall too far into the background over the years. From Dan’s struggles to stave off foreclosure to low-key reveals about her unseen habits to bringing back Natalie West’s Crystal Anderson and other former Roseanne familiars. And while fans are very familiar with how the mothership sitcom handled its titular family enjoying a financial wellspring via a dreamed lottery win, I can only hope The Conners sticks its landing a bit less awkwardly.
I mean, it’s still gonna be awkward in the way that Darlene and Becky will be around to make the darkest comments possible whether they come out of this richer or poorer.
