John Goodman Says He Misses Roseanne Barr On ‘The Conners’
John Goodman says he misses his former TV wife on The Conners. In an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Goodman, who plays patriarch Dan Conner on the new series, addressed the absence of his longtime Roseanne co-star, Roseanne Barr, on the ABC spinoff.
“She is missed, definitely. After that many years, it’s like a family. Last year was so miraculous and so unreal that when it went away it was almost like a dream.”
Goodman thanked his longtime TV wife, saying, “She gave up a lot so that people could work,” after the Roseanne revival was canceled in May, 20 years after the original show’s nine-year run. A second season of the top-rated revival series was scrapped after Barr posted an offensive tweet comparing former White House aide Valerie Jarrett to an ape. While Barr went through a breakdown after the beloved show was canceled, Goodman admits he weathered some tough times as well.
Goodman told Kimmel he “crashed for a couple of weeks” after the Roseanne revival was suddenly canceled.
“All kinds of weird stuff happened,” the actor said. “My wife got sick right after that. Then I fell down the stairs.”
When asked how the Conner family will look without Barr in the picture, Goodman didn’t give much information for fear of repercussions from network bosses.
“Same family, minus mom. They (the network) don’t like me talking about it.”
Goodman previously told the Sunday Times that his character will “be mopey and sad because his wife’s dead.” And Barr already seemingly spoiled a Conners plotline, telling Brandon Straka’s Walk Away podcast that her character will be killed off after an opioid overdose.
This is not the first time Goodman has shown support for his longtime TV co-star.
In August, Goodman told the U.K.’s The Times, “I know for a fact that [Barr] is not a racist.”
The actor admitted that Barr’s tweet about Jarrett left him “heartbroken,” but that he was still “surprised” that ABC canceled the Roseanne series.
Goodman credited Roseanne producer Tom Werner and series star Sara Gilbert for getting ABC to “come around” for a spinoff about the rest of the Conner family after Barr agreed to give up all creative and financial stake in the new series. You can see Goodman talking about Barr and her absence from The Conners in the Jimmy Kimmel Live! video below.
The Conners premieres Tuesday, October 16 on ABC.
