With “The Conners” slated to debut this month sans Roseanne Barr, the remaining cast members are reflecting on their new direction after Barr’s firing.
“It was awkward but not awkward,” Laurie Metcalf, who plays Jackie Harris, told People about filming without Barr. “It was right but not right, wrong but not wrong.”
As the series is expected to address, Barr’s character is killed off and the family is left to recover.
“Any sadness that we feel over what we’ve lost we’re hopefully channeling in an honest way into the show,” added Sarah Gilbert, who returned to her role as Darlene Conner and a producer on the show. “And our show has always been able to deal with heavy topics, particularly for a sitcom.”
Back in May, ABC swiftly canceled “Roseanne” after Barr, 65, posted racist tweets about Valerie Jarrett. The network called her behavior not in line with its values. Then came discussion of whether the show could return without Barr — who played a pivotal role both in front of and behind the camera. Barr ultimately chose to remove herself so the show could survive.
“That was a very big deal,” said John Goodman, who plays Dan Conner. “To give us a chance.”
Goodman, 66, adds he and the remaining cast didn’t want to let the series end until they were truly finished. “There was a debt owed to this fictional family. We’ll figure out how to get through this, the family will, everybody will. We want to finish telling this story.”
Of the remaining stars, Goodman appeared to have the most difficulty with the cancellation news.
“I had a bad time for about a month,” he recalled. “And then other things started going wrong. I fell down the steps and broke a rib. My wife got sick — just all kinds of weird stuff happened at one time.”
Metcalf, 66, and Gilbert, 43, processed the news differently.
“I was trying to reconcile myself to the show being gone,” Metcalf said.
Gilbert compartmentalized her feelings and dealt with the news one day at a time.
However, they collectively decided to shoot for another chance. Their newly reformatted show will return on Oct. 16.
“We all decided as a group to take the risk, knowing that we could be judged by deciding to come back,” Metcalf said.
Goodman is hopeful. “But we can create something new from it. Let us finish the story on our own terms. Come along with us and see how we do.”
