Mary Steenburgen To Guest Star On ‘The Conners’ Premiere Episode, And It Doesn’t Look Good
Mary Steenburgen will be stopping by The Conners, but it doesn’t look like it will be a friendly social visit. The Last Man On Earth actress and wife of Ted Danson has revealed that she will guest star on The Conners, ABC’s unexpected spinoff of Roseanne. And based on reviews of two episodes of the top secret sitcom spinoff, Steenburgen will appear in the premiere episode, titled “Keep On Truckin.'”
Steenburgen posted an Instagram photo of herself and John Goodman, who plays patriarch Dan Conner on the new show, captioning it with, “Made a little visit to my friends, [The Conners].”
In the pic, Goodman’s Dan Conner seems to be very angry and Steenburgen’s unidentified character appears to be putting him in his place. It does not look like a friendly conversation as the two have a heated exchange on the Conner family’s front porch.
ABC also posted a photo of Steenburgen as she stands at the Conner front door after DJ Conner (Michael Fishman) answers it. The actress has a very solemn look on her face in the scene. It appears she may be delivering bad news to the family in the spinoff series, which will show the Conner clan moving on without their matriarch, Roseanne (Roseanne Barr) after her still unexplained departure.
You can see the photos of Mary Steenburgen from The Conners premiere below.
Early reviews of The Conners premiere have given little insight into Steenburgen’s guest role. Deadline described “an almost harrowing appearance by Mary Steenburgen,” while The Daily Beast called her scene with Goodman “an emotional wallop.”
A reviewer for The Hollywood Reporter said, “Mary Steenburgen appears in the premiere and makes as strong an impression as one could possibly make in a three-minute, one-scene role.” The site described Steenburgen as “such a natural fit with this show’s tone and world” that they’d urge producers to have her character make a return in future episodes.
Perhaps the most telling tease came from Indirewire‘s review, which reads, “Dan (John Goodman) lashes out at someone (guest star Mary Steenburgen) whom he blames for the situation.”
The “situation,” clearly, is Roseanne’s absence. While producers remain mum on what happened to the Conner matriarch (Rosanne Barr was fired from the show after posting a racist tweet), Barr apparently spoiled her character’s demise, telling Brandon Straka’s Walk Away podcast that her character will be killed off by an opioid overdose.
The Conners premieres Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. on ABC.
