‘The Conners’: Katey Sagal Eyed For Extended Season 2 Return As Bartender Louise

The Conners may be adding another famous face to its cast — and it won’t be a one-nighter. According to TVLine, Katey Sagal is reportedly in talks to recur on the second season of the ABC sitcom for a “significant” stint.

The Married with Children and Sons of Anarchy alum would reprise her Season 1 guest-star role, playing Louise, a bartender at Casa Bonita, the Mexican restaurant where Becky Conner (Lecy Goranson) works. Conners fans may recall that Louise was also a former high school friend of Dan and Roseanne’s (John Goodman, Roseanne Barr) who returned to Lanford after giving up on her failed music career.

Sagal’s Louise first appeared in the Season 1 episode, “O Sister Where Art Thou,” where she made it clear she had the hots for Dan, who was still grieving over the death of his wife. As previously shared by The Inquisitr, a promo for the Christmas-set episode teased that Sagal’s character would be “the hottest gift of the year.”

In one memorable moment, Louise made a play for the Conners patriarch, but he shot her down, saying he was still in love with his late wife. In another scene, Becky Conner said she never thought of her dad as “a catch,” to which Roseanne’s sister, Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), pointed out, “At his age, he falls down and gets up on his own. The ladies love it!”

While fans loved Katey Sagal’s appearance as Louise, last year John Goodman told TMZ there were no plans to make her a permanent love interest for the still-grieving Conner patriarch. But one month later, The Conners star and executive producer Sara Gilbert told TVLine that Sagal gave an “amazing” performance as Louise and added she would “love to have her back” if the show returned for a second season. Still, Gilbert added that she wasn’t sure the Dan character would ever be ready for new romance after Roseanne’s premature passing.

“If he ever did it wouldn’t be something he was looking for,” Gilbert teased.

The first season of The Conners featured Dan Conner regularly moping over the death of his wife. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Goodman admitted he has “no idea” where his character is going in Season 2. The Conners star, who admitted that he has not spoken to Roseanne Barr since her character was killed off over offensive tweets last year, added that his original TV wife can never be replaced.

“Those are shoes you can’t fill,” Goodman said of Roseanne. “It was actually just like having a death in the family except you don’t have to eat as many covered dishes.”

ABC has not confirmed the Katey Sagal casting rumors.

The Conners Season 2 premieres Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. on ABC.