‘The Conners’: John Goodman, Sara Gilbert & Laurie Metcalf Speak Out About ‘Roseanne’ Cancellation

The Conners cast members John Goodman, Sara Gilbert, and Laurie Metcalf have spoken out about the cancellation of Roseanne, as well as Roseanne Barr’s tweets.

According to an October 3 report by People Magazine, Goodman, Gilbert, and Metcalf came together in hopes of making the Roseanne spin-off, The Conners, the best that it can be as a way to honor the fictional family that they have come to know and love so much over the past decades.

Opening up to the magazine about the craziness surrounding the show, following Barr’s tweets about former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, Goodman, who plays Dan Conner on the series, said that the entire cast didn’t want the show to go away until they were ready to put it to rest themselves.

“There was a debt owed to this fictional family. We want to finish telling this story.”

The actor said that he first heard the news about Barr’s tweets while at home in his kitchen, revealing that his wife and daughter told him. Goodman stated that it just didn’t “seem true,” but it was, and he had to learn to accept it, and the fate of the cancelled series that came next.

As for Gilbert, who plays Darlene Conner on the show, she says it’s hard for her to remember the shocking news, adding that she needed time to process all that was happening in the week that the show was cancelled.

Metcalf, who plays Jackie Harris on the series, reveals that she first heard about the controversy on the news, and wondered whether or not they would still have a show to come back to, which she soon learned was not the case.

#TheConners: Day 1 ? pic.twitter.com/CjIgHA2oRq

— The Conners (@TheConnersABC) August 31, 2018

Metcalf claimed it was hard to “wrap her head” around the idea of not returning to the show after it had gained such great ratings for ABC. However, the cast soon got together and decided to do a Roseanne spin-off without Barr, which the actress says involved a lot of “risk.”

“There was a lot of risk involved, but we all decided as a group to take the risk, knowing that we could be judged by deciding to come back,” Metcalf stated.

The Conners was born after the cast decided to give it a go, and Barr agreed to sign off on any and all creative control over the series and characters that she had created, as well as agree to no financial gain from the series.

“That was a very big deal. To give us a chance,” Goodman said.