Justin Long to Recur on ‘The Conners’ as Love Interest in Key Role

The Conners has enlisted Justin Long as the love interest for one of its major characters.

The Roseanne Barr-less spinoff series announced the actor will be joining the cast during its first season in a recurring role that will see him wooing Darlene Conner (Sara Gilbert).

Long will play Neil, and joins a star-studded list of guest stars for the first season of the series, which includes Darlene’s ex-husband David (Johnny Galecki) and his new girlfriend Blue (Juliette Lewis), according to TVLine.

The show also announced the casting news in a tweet, which has since been deleted.

Later, they uploaded a new photo of Long, propped up on the Conners’ couch, sans script.

The outlet also reported that romance will also find Laurie Metcalf’s Jackie, as actor Steve Zahn has been cast as a love interest for her character and will be introduced in the series’ Oct. 30th episode — which will continue Roseanne’s tradition of having epic Halloween episodes.

According to the episode synopsis, Jackie “insists that Dan vet him, only to immediately wish she hadn’t.”

The countdown is on for the premiere of the new series, which reunites Metcalf, Gilbert, John Goodman, Lecy Goranson and Michael Fishman after “a sudden turn of events” leaves them without their matriarch Roseanne Conner.

Roseanne Barr, whose racist tweet led to the cancellation of the massively successful Roseanne reboot revealed in September that her character would be killed from an “opioid overdose,” though ABC has not confirmed the news, nor has it been addressed in the promos for the series.

“It’s so cynical and horrible,” Barr recently said on the YouTube show Walk Away. “She should have died as a hero, or not at all… It wasn’t enough to [fire me], they had to so cruelly insult the people who loved that family and that show.”

“All I can say is that she will not be there,” showrunner Bruce Helford told TVLine in September when asked if rumors Roseanne’s Conner death were true.

Regardless of how it happens, Roseanne’s absence will be a central theme of the spinoff series’ first 10-episode season.

“We don’t shy away from the heavy moments,” Helford told the outlet. “I don’t know that there’s any show that can better handle [such a weighty storyline].”

The series will also bring back Emma Kenney, Ames McNamara and Jayden Rey in the roles of Harris, Mark and Mary respectively. And introduce Maya Lynne Robinson as DJ’s wife Geena.

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