John Goodman Says ‘The Conners’ Is ‘Wonderful’ Without Roseanne Barr

John Goodman is having the time of his life working on The Conners.

The actor, who previously opened up about the dark times that came after the successful Roseanne revival was abruptly canceled following Roseanne Barr’s racist tweets in summer 2018, was all smiles when answering questions on the new series in a new video interview.

“How’s life on The Conners post-Roseanne?” a TMZ reporter asked Goodman, who plays Dan Conner on the ABC comedy series.

“It’s so much fun man, it’s great,” Goodman said about working on the spinoff series. “Hopefully we get a deal for next year ’cause it’s wonderful.”

His comments come as reports surfaced that negotiations are already underway to negotiate contracts to the cast for a possible second season.

The interviewer also asked Goodman about the future of Sons of Anarchy alum Katey Sagal on the new show, whose character was introduced during the winter finale and had her eyes set on Dan.

“Is Katey Sagal going to be the permanent replacement?” the reporter asked in the video.

“I don’t think so. No, but… it’d be great,” Goodman said, suggesting he would be delighted by Sagal’s Louise sticking around on the sitcom series.

As for whether or not the actor has been keeping up with Barr since she was fired from the series and her character was killed off, his answer was a plain “no.”

According to Deadline, ABC has already begun discussions for a 13-episode second season for the spinoff series, with contract negotiations happening for the stars of the series, Sarah Gilbert — who also serves as an executive producer — Goodman, Laurie Metcalf and Lecy Goranson.

Goodman, Metcalf and Gilbert were reportedly paid $375,000 an episode for Season 1 of The Conners, up from about $250,000 per episode they got for the Roseanne reboot. As with the first season, the series will have to navigate with Metcalf and Goodman’s busy work schedule but all the actors are reportedly as eager as Goodman to get the family back together for a new season.

Despite the show not bringing in the monster ratings the Roseanne reboot once brought the network, the series has averaged a 1.6 in the demo so far making the No. 1 comedy, and No. 2 overall series for ABC, just behind Grey’s Anatomy.

The Conners aired its fall finale Tuesday, Dec. 11 and will return for its final three episodes of Season 1 on Jan. 8. The season finale will air on Jan 22 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.