Matthew Broderick Joins ‘The Conners’ As Jackie’s Love Interest
Aunt Jackie just landed an A-list boyfriend. Matthew Broderick—aka Ferris Bueller, Inspector Gadget and the real-life husband of Sarah Jessica Parker—has landed a recurring role on The Conners. Broderick will play Peter, a potential love interest for Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), on an upcoming episode of the Roseanne spinoff, Deadline reports.
Broderick’s character will first be seen on the Halloween episode of The Conners, titled “There Won’t Be Blood,” which airs Tuesday, Oct. 30. ABC’s official synopsis of the episode reads.
“It’s Halloween, the favorite time of year for the Conners, but an email from the school banning certain costumes, including Mark’s, sets off an argument between Dan and Darlene. Jackie introduces someone new to the family at the Halloween party and insists that Dan vet him, only to immediately wish that she hadn’t.”
Earlier this month, TV Line reported that Steve Zahn (The Crossing) will also be introduced as a possible love interest for Jackie on The Conners Halloween episode. It is unclear if there will be a love triangle of sorts, but the Jackie character, who is still grieving the death of her sister Roseanne, hasn’t had a man in her life in a while. Longtime Roseanne fans may recall that Jackie’s last relationship was with her husband Fred (Michael O’Keefe) in season 8 of the original ABC comedy more than 20 years ago.
Jackie Harris had a tumultuous love life over the original series 10-season run. In the late 1980s, Jackie dated her Wellman Plastics supervisor, Booker Brooks (played by George Clooney) then moved on to the abusive Fisher (Matthew Roth ) and her eventual husband, Fred. She ultimately had a son, Andy, with Fred, but he has not yet been mentioned on The Conners spinoff.
Jackie won’t be the only Conners character who will have a new love interest. Deadline previously reported that New Girl alum Justin Long has been cast for a recurring role as Neil, a love interest for Darlene Conner (Sara Gilbert). In addition, Darlene’ ex-husband, David (Johnny Galecki), will introduce his lady love, Blue (Juliette Lewis) to the Conner clan in the episode “Tangled Up in Blue,” which is set to air next week. The synopsis reads.
“Darlene is in for one surprise after another when David introduces his girlfriend, Blue (Juliette Lewis), at a parent-teacher conference and mentions that Mark and Harris will be spending the weekend with them.”
The Conners airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
