‘Roseanne’ Season Finale Confirms Nana Mary’s Death

Roseanne’s season finale Tuesday night confirmed the death of fan-favorite character Nana Mary.

During Tuesday’s episode, Roseanne (Barr) and Dan (John Goodman) also dealt with the stress of figuring out how to pay for the surgery she needs for her bad knee.

Desperate to compete in the construction business in their time of need, Dan decides to go non-union for his next job and considers hiring undocumented immigrants for cheaper labor.

“If the union finds out you’re hiring those guys they’re going to kick you out,” Roseanne warns her husband.

“That a risk I’m going to have to take, I’m not going to stand by and watch you suffer, and I’m not going to let you go back to taking too many pain pills,” Dan says.

Refusing to let her husband do all the work, Roseanne enlists Jackie’s (Laurie Metcalf) help to find something of value in the basement they could sell to come up with the money for the surgery.

“You always think that I have nothing to do, that I am free to help you whenever you want,” Jackie complains.

“Yeah, I’m sorry that was rude… are you available?” Roseanne asks.

“Yes I am…” Jackie says.

In the basement, Roseanne and Jackie find old memories in the boxes, including a funny hat previously owned by the late Nana Mary.

“I found Nana Mary’s favorite hat,” Roseanne says as she puts on the hat, which reads “Heavily Medicated for Your Protection.”

“Talk about passing down something that everybody can use,” she adds.

The news of Nana’s death didn’t come as much of a surprise — Roseanne herself is now a grandmother of three — but the confirmation served as a tribute to the iconic character.

Nana Mary, portrayed by Shelly Winters in the ABC sitcom’s original run was the free-spirited, caring, outspoken, lovable mother of Beverly Harris (Estelle Parsons).

The outspoken character was famous for not knowing who Beverly’s father was, she was also known for pretending to be senile as an excuse to throw inappropriate insults at whoever she pleased. Her last appearance on the series came after Beverly came out as a lesbian (in the timeline of the series that was debunked as fiction for the revival), when mother and daughter have a heart-to-heart and make amends after years of being at odds with each other.

It is believed that DJ (Michael Fishman) named his child Mary after Nana.

Winters, who played Nana Mary, passed away in 2006 from heart failure in Beverly Hills. She was 85.

Roseanne will return for its eleventh overall season in fall 2018.