John Goodman is very excited to reprise his iconic role as Dan Conner in Roseanne, even if he acknowledges that the reboot will be vastly different from the original show.
The Roseanne reboot already has many fans buzzing, and Goodman is among those adding to the hype. The actor spoke with CBS News recently about how returning to Roseanne is a bit of a risk, as it’s been 20 full years since the show ended.
“I can only hope that people will like the new show. It’s a bit of a risk jumping into this because we left with such a good memory. I think we’d all hate to disappoint the fans, but we can only hope they like it,” Goodman admitted .
While some may be skeptical about a Roseanne reboot, Goodman was on board from the jump.
“It was just kind of a look back on fond memories because we are all sort of a family,” he said. “It always felt safe coming to work every day. To go in and have a nice routine and be with people who make you laugh was great.”
It’s not exactly clear how Goodman will return as Dan Conner considering it was revealed in the original Roseanne series finale that he had died of a heart attack. The revelation was part of a huge finale twist in which viewers learned that Roseanne (Roseanne Barr) had imagined much of the series’ events to cope with her dissatisfaction with her real life. The finale ended with Roseanne sitting on her couch in her empty house, marking a bleak end to the nine-year sitcom.
It’s possible that the reboot will pretend like this finale twist never happened, but very few actually know what the series is going to look like at this point, even Goodman himself.
“I have no idea where we are going to pick up or what our circumstances are. I don’t know if we still own the house. I mean, all the kids are gone so we are going to have the kids and the grandkids this time. It’s just going to be totally new from the last time we left these guys. Last time we were seen we were in our 40s, and now we are not.”
The Roseanne reboot will reunite most of the original cast. Barr and Goodman are confirmed to return, alongside Laurie Metcalf as Roseanne’s sister Jackie Harris, Sara Gilbert as Dan and Roseanne’s daughter Darlene, Michael Fishman as their son D.J., and Lecy Goranson as their daughter Becky. Sarah Chalke, who played Becky in the show’s later seasons, will also return but in a different role. The status of supporting cast members Johnny Galecki, Estelle Parsons, Natalie West, Martin Mull, Michael O’Keefe, and Sandra Bernhard is not yet known. Glenn Quinn, who played Mark Healy in the original series, died in 2002.
Barr is slated to executive produce the reboot alongside Gilbert, Tom Werner, Bruce Helford, Whitney Cummings, and Tony Hernandez.
The eight-episode Roseanne reboot will air in 2018 on its original network, ABC, which has not revealed an exact premiere date yet.
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