‘Roseanne’ Preview Teases Johnny Galecki’s Return and Showdown Between David and Dan

Roseanne‘s next episode promises plenty of drama, as Johnny Galecki‘s character David returns to the show for the first time since the revival.

ABC released a teaser of April 17 episode on Thursday, showing David peeking his head through Darlene’s (Sara Gilbert) window before having a face-to-face with John Goodman‘s Dan.

The synopsis for the episode reads, “David unexpectedly shows up for Harris’ birthday after being absent for years, forcing Darlene to re-examine their relationship and the rest of the family. Meanwhile, Roseanne and Jackie’s mother, Bev, temporarily moves into the Conner home after an incident at the nursing home prevents her from returning.”

David has been noticeably absent from the show ever since its return, despite being married to Darlene at the end of the show’s original run in 1997 (ignoring the show’s series finale).

Galecki’s character was originally introduced in season four as Mark Healy’s younger brother, though he first appeared on the show under the name Kevin. It was revealed two seasons later that he went by David after Darlene came up with a fake name and it stuck. He first begins a relationship with Darlene after they bond over the graphic novels she’s writing, where he chips in by illustrating them. He becomes an accepted member of the Conner family after Roseanne witnesses him being a victim of child abuse (an unfortunate situation she found herself in growing up) and David-Darlene couple became an off-and-on relationship for the back half of the series’ run.

The two went on to have two children in Harris and Mark Conner-Healy, the first of whom was conceived in season eight during a family trip to Disney world.

So far through the first four episodes, there’s been plenty of drama involving Harris and Mark. It was revealed early on in the show that Mark is gender fluid, as he enjoys occasionally wearing makeup and girl’s clothes.

Meanwhile Harris was caught during a recent episode selling stolen items on Etsy in an attempt to move back to Chicago. While Darlene is sympathetic over her daughter’s unhappiness, she still punishes her by demanding the passwords to all of her social media accounts and grounding her.

The upcoming episode, titled “Darlene v. David,” is the only episode on the first season of the Roseanne revival where Galecki’s character will appear, as his schedule conflicts with The Big Bang Theory.