Roseanne Reveals How Long It Took to Get Revival Series Deal

Roseanne may have been off the air for nearly two decades, but it turns out that getting a deal for the reboot only took a matter of weeks.

Appearing on ABC‘s Good Morning America on Monday to promote the premiere of the Roseanne reboot, series star Roseanne Barr divulged just how long it took to get the reboot deal, claiming that it “just happened” organically after co-star John Goodman appeared on Sara Gilbert’s The Talk last year.

“Sara and John were on Sara’s talk show and they did a little sketch. It got a lot of attention. Sara called me and said, ‘Would you want to do a reunion show?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, definitely,’” Barr said. “I said, ‘What about John?’ She goes, ‘Oh, John’s in.’ I said, ‘Well of course then I’m in.’ Everybody was in, and so then it went from a special to a series and we had a deal in three weeks.”

The popular sitcom had a nearly decade-long run, airing from 1989 until 1997. The reboot, which will premiere its first two episodes Tuesday night, will take place in the present day, more than 20 years since the season 9 finale.

The revival series will see Johnny Galecki reprising his role as Darlene’s husband, David Healy, though he will only be returning for one episode of the nine-episode season. Sarah Gilbert will return as Darlene, Lecy Goranson will be back as Becky, Michael Fishman as DJ, Laurie Metcalf as Aunt Jackie, and of course, Roseanne Barr and John Goodman as the Conner family heads, Roseanne and Dan, who was resurrected for the revival series. Sarah Chalke, who played Becky in the show’s sixth season, will return to the series as a new character.

Ahead of the premiere, critics have been giving the upcoming nine-episode tenth season of the hit ABC sitcom mostly positive reviews. A review by USA Today calls the reboot “exactly what you’d expect, for better or worse,” noting that the original series “broke ground,” which the revival fails to do. USA Today gave the revival two out of four stars, while TV Line gave it a B+, and Entertainment Weekly has handed down an A-.

Roseanne premieres Tuesday, March 27, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.