Emma Kenney Assures Fans The Conners Are ‘The Same Family’ Without Roseanne

The Conners kicked off a new series without Roseanne on Tuesday night, but Emma Kenney promises that they are “still the same family.”

Kenney plays Roseanne Conner’s granddaughter, Harrison, the daughter of Darlene (Sara Gilbert) and David Healy (Johnny Galecki). Kenney was a hit during the reboot season of Roseanne back in the spring, and she said that the new series carries the same energy as that hit show. In an interview with Us Weekly, she confessed that she “wasn’t surprised” to get the call about a spin-off after Roseanne was canceled.

“I was really excited, and I did not know what to expect in the sense of everyone coming back together,” the 19-year-old actress said. “I’m really grateful that it came together the way it did, and I’m really excited for the stories that we’re telling this season.”

The Roseanne reboot was more successful than anyone could have dreamed during last year’s TV season. Of course, it was also a controversial program considering its eponymous star’s outspoken support for President Donald Trump, and her penchant for bizarre conspiracy theories. The show was canceled entirely in May when Barr tweeted a racist conspiracy theory about former Obama administration adviser, Valerie Jarrett. For a while, Kenney and her co-stars were uncertain about their future until ABC snapped up The Conners as a whole new show.

“It was a happy moment seeing everyone again, and I’m really happy that we’re all back together, and I know everyone has each other’s backs,” she said. “Everyone is very professional. Everyone is very kind, and it’s just a very good group of people working together. We all have very similar kind of motives and agendas. And, we know the stories that we want to tell this season, and this is the same family – the Conner family – and I’m really looking forward to telling more of their stories and their lives.”

Kenney added that she is extremely grateful to be working with so many of the same people, as she has a lot to learn from them. ABC picked up many of the existing contracts for the planned Roseanne season 11, transferring them to the new production.

“Everyone has been so kind and so open to teaching me … There’s so much to learn from literally everyone on set,” she said. “I talk to Sara a lot about speech and comedic timing and just kind of moments. I really look up to her, and she’s so nice. She’s always been so helpful and supportive and so smart. And, obviously, I’m playing Darlene’s daughter so there’s those kinds of similarities. I’m always on set watching Laurie and John during rehearsals just because they’re both so incredible – something different every take. It’s insane. The line could be, ‘I’m going to the park,’ and they would make it funny somehow.”

The Conners airs on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.