Casting directors for the reboot are currently looking for someone to play a 9-year-old ‘gender-creative’ child.
ROSEANNE – “Sleeper” which aired on October 19, 1994.
Iconic ’90s sitcom Roseanne is set to return to television next year, more than 20 years after the show’s finale aired.
The original cast—including Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf and Sara Gilbert—are returning for the eight-episode reunion and will be joined by new characters who have been welcomed into the Conner family in the last two decades.
Metcalf confirmed on The Tonight Show earlier this year that “everybody” was on board.
According to a casting notice obtained by Fox News, the show is on the lookout for an actor to play the role of a ‘gender-creative’ 9-year-old named Mark.
The character is the child of Darlene Conner and David Healy and is described in the notice as “sensitive”, “effeminate” and displaying both male and female qualities.
ABC has declined to comment on the report and Barr has remained tight lipped, simply writing “VERY INTERESTING TOPICS TO READ ON TWITTER TODAY!” amid the speculation.
If true, it would be the first major non-binary role to be featured on network television in the US.
Non-binary actor Asia-Kate Dillon made history by playing the first major non-binary character on TV in the Showtime drama Billions this year.
Dillon also presented the first gender-neutral acting award this year to Emma Watson at the MTV Movie & TV Awards.
“To be presenting the first best acting award based solely on performance and not on sex or gender identity? It’s a historic moment, and one that I share with everyone leading the way for change,” Dillon told People earlier this year.
The Roseanne series will feature the Conner couple in their mid-60s—and will be completely ignoring the fact that Dan passed away from a heart attack in the original series.
ABC’s Entertainment president Channing Dungey said of the return: “The Conners’ joys and struggles are as relevant—and hilarious—today as they were then, and there’s really no one better to comment on our modern America than Roseanne.”
