John Goodman Says Roseanne Barr Is ‘Missed’ on ‘The Conners’ Set

John Goodman continues to say good things about his former Roseanne co-star, Roseanne Barr. When appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday night, he said Barr is “missed” on set of the Roseanne spinoff The Conners.

When Kimmel asked Goodman if he knew the should would continue without Barr, he said monosyllabically, “No.” When asked if he wanted the show to continue, he gave another short answer: “Yes.”

Kimmel pressed on, asking what it felt like to do the show without Barr, following their long work history together. Roseanne originally ran for nine seasons in the ’80s and ’90s and had one short-lived successful rebooted season last year.

“She is missed, definitely. After that many years, it’s like a family. Last year was so miraculous and so unreal that when it went away it was almost like a dream,” Goodman said, adding that after ABC fired Barr for her racist tweet earlier this year, he “crashed for a couple weeks.”

He thanked Barr for allowing The Conners to exist. “She gave up a lot so that people could work,” he said. The Conners includes all of Roseanne‘s main characters, sans Barr.

Goodman hinted that Barr’s character’s exit would be explored on the new show. “Same family, minus mom,” he said, adding that he wouldn’t go into any specifics about the departure. “They don’t like me talking about it,” he said, referring to his network bosses.

Previously, Goodman has defended Barr, telling the Sunday Times in August, “I know for a fact that [Barr] is not a racist.” He said that while her tweet about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett left him “heartbroken,” he was still “surprised” that ABC canceled the show, which at the time, was its highest-rated comedy series.

He also previously hinted that The Conners would kill off Barr’s character. When asked how his character, Dan Conner, would be following Barr’s exit, he said, “It’s an unknown. I guess he’ll be mopey and sad because his wife’s dead.”

Goodman and co-stars Sara Gilbert and Laurie Metcalf recounted to PEOPLE what was going through their minds when they learned of the controversial tweet.

“It just didn’t seem true,” Goodman said. “Then it got true. I was consciously trying to accept it.”

Gilbert said she had to take “things one step at a time as they came.”

“I [first] thought, ‘Oh, I wonder if we still have a show.’ Because of how heavy everything became,” said Metcalf, returning as Jackie Harris.

When ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey announced Roseanne‘s cancellation, Goodman said he held onto “the hope of resurrecting it.”

“It was so unbelievable to do this show and it was like easy come, easy go,” he said of the cancellation.

The Conners premieres Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.