‘The Conners’ EP Says Dan & Girlfriend Louise Are ‘In Love’ And Living Together In Season 3

The Conners will feature more of Dan’s new relationship in Season 3. Two years after his wife Roseanne’s death, the family patriarch (John Goodman) will be shown in a live-in situation with his high-school-classmate-turned-girlfriend Louise (Katey Sagal) in new episodes of the ABC sitcom.

In a new interview, showrunner Bruce Helford dished to TV Insider on Dan’s relationship status with Louise in the upcoming season.

“They’re in love. Louise joins the family bubble so they can be together. … It’s not so easy for her. She has lived alone all these years, and now she’s in a household with nine people.”

While fans of the show know the widower grieved over his wife of 45 years’ death for a full TV season and much of a second, a very patient Louise finally won his heart. Now she’s willing to quarantine with the Conner dad, his kids and grandkids – with only two bathrooms for nine people.

A recent promo for the show teased that Dan’s girlfriend was helping with his family as they quarantined.

“You know the best part of this pandemic is having you in our bubble cooking for us, ” Dan said to his woman in the sneak peek.

However, it’s now clear she has taken Roseanne’s place in the kitchen and in the bedroom.

Of course, Dan isn’t the only Conner balancing the pandemic with their complicated love life.

Helford said Darlene (Sara Gilbert) and Ben (Jay R. Ferguson) will be sleeping in her childhood bedroom after putting their plan to buy their own place on hold so they could help her broke dad save his house amid multiple missed mortgage payments. The Conners showrunner also teased that Ben and Dan will butt heads because they’re both “alpha guys.”

As for Becky (Lecy Goranson), she will have major issues with her baby daddy Emilio (Rene Rosado), who turned up in Lanford illegally after being deported to Mexico.

Emilio won’t move into the Conner house just yet – Dan would flip if he knew he was in town – but in the new episodes, he will set up residence in the back room of the temporarily shutdown Lunch Box diner owned by Becky and Jackie (Laurie Metcalf).

While Ferguson has been signed as a full cast member on The Conners, it’s unclear how many episodes Sagal will appear in this time around. For Season 2, she turned up in more than half of the episodes.

Sagal has also signed on to a new ABC drama series, Rebel, which could affect her availability for The Conners.