New ‘The Conners’ Clip Stars Justin Long as Darlene’s Love Interest

The Conners has shared a clip from its upcoming episode that stars Justin Long as Darlene’s new love interest.

In the clip, Darlene (Sara Gilbert), Becky (Lecy Goranson) and Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) are all sitting around the bar where Becky works talking about how to pick-up men.

Darlene is vocally disinterested in the whole situation until Long’s character comes up out of nowhere and introduces himself while offering to buy her a drink. She very quickly changes her tone without skipping a beat.

The Roseanne spinoff has been a hit with audiences, even with Roseanne Barr herself frequently speaking out against it, especially in relation to her character Roseanne Conner being killed off.

However, some have speculated on the possibility of her returning to the show in flashbacks, a notion that series star Michael Fishman says is unlikely but not impossible.

“You know, at the current time, we haven’t really discussed that, but that’s one of those things, I would say, never say never,” Fishman said, as reported by Variety. “I’m a big believer in second chances and forgiveness. I think that’s a really big thing, and I think this country is kind of built on that. People go through a lot of things, people make mistakes, everybody makes mistakes. The most successful people in our world aren’t the ones who don’t make mistakes, but the ones who learn the most from them.”

The actor went on to reveal that he has been in touch with Barr since her racist tweet led to the cancellation of the Roseanne revival.

“I reached out to her the day all this happened. We’ve had interaction back and forth…and we’ve had private discourse going back and forth, but I really don’t think it’s appropriate for me to share that,” Fishman shared. “What I would say is we’ve all worked with her a long time. We all have known or cared about somebody who said or did something that we didn’t always necessary agree with. That’s what families do, and how you deal with that, is you tell each other how much you care about each other, but you’re honest about the things you disagree on.”

Goranson also spoke candidly about Barr’s comments, saying that she thinks Barr’s words were rooted in her political opinions rather than racism.

“I don’t think anyone should be called crazy, and it seems like she’s remorseful — I mean, I haven’t spoken to her, but it certainly seems that way,” she said. “All I know is that I feel like I’ve never thought she was a racist. I think she made a big mistake. I think language like that shouldn’t be in our culture. I think it hurts others and it brings us back as human beings, but I think, for her, it was politically motivated and not racially motivated — I really believe that. And in an adult world, you have to pay consequences for what you say and do, and that’s what happened.”

The Conners airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.