‘Roseanne’ Revival Officially Renewed for Season 2

As many have speculated, it is now official that the Roseanne revival has landed a second season at ABC.

According to Deadline, the network has given the green light for the follow-up to the already hugely successful series reboot due to its record-breaking popularity. Certainly this does not come come as a surprise to anyone, as the first episode of the revival debuted to a massive 18 million viewers.

“We’re thrilled that America has welcomed the Conner family back into their homes. The show is as fresh and relevant today as it was when it left the air 21 years ago. We can’t wait to see what the ‘Roseanne’ team has in store for next year,” said Channing Dungey, the president of ABC Entertainment.

According to EW, the premiere episode of the series scored a rating of 5.1 in the 18-49 demographic, which also beat the Stormy Daniels interview on 60 Minutes that aired just days prior.

The outlet noted that this was the biggest rating for a TV comedy in recent years (since a 2014 season premiere episode of The Big Bang Theory) and indicated that it even topped any ratings for a regularly scheduled episode of the hit drama This is Us.

While we only now have confirmation, the day after the series revival debuted, a source close to the show said it was “a forgone conclusion” that there would be a season two.

According to the source that spoke with TV Line, ABC was already in talks for continuing the show, but with the huge premiere the show had the network reportedly was ready to make plans for it to be official.

Roseanne Barr herself recently spoke about the possible continuation of the series, telling reporters, “We all want to keep doing it, so we just hope people like it and they watch it, and it gets renewed, you know, we all want that.”

Whitney Cummings, co-showrunner and executive producer for the revival, also previously talked about the show moving past more than just one season, explaining that all the cast and writer’s schedules would have to align for it to happen.

“Laurie can’t stop getting nominated for awards,” Cummings joked, referencing series star Laurie Metcalf’s recent award nominations for her supporting role in the critically acclaimed film Lady Bird.

“[Hopefully] we can find a way to get her for a couple months straight. From what I gather, everyone is ready to do it again. Everybody wants to do it again,” she added.

Speaking more to TV Line about her decision to take on the project, Cummings said, “I was looking for a way to be of service after the election, and I didn’t know how. So I thought, ‘Maybe [working] on a show where the lead character voted for Trump is how I can get into the living rooms of the people who did vote for him.’ “

Speaking about the direction of the revival, Bruce Helford, another Roseanne executive producer, recently said, “We are writing about what is going on in the world now, and we are hoping to involve everybody.”

“Everybody is concerned about taxes. Everybody is concerned about jobs. This couple has no health care. They barely can make a living,” Helford added. “They are going through what is being discussed in every home. What better family to be dealing with this than people who are living it?”