‘The Conners’ Bosses Reveal the Lasting Presence Roseanne Conner Has on the Family

Roseanne Barr may have cut all ties with her onscreen counterpart and family, but her character’s absence will still have a lasting effect on The Conners.

Speaking to Variety, The Conners executive producers Bruce Rasmussen and Dave Caplan revealed just how the Bar-less Conner family will move forward and how Roseanne‘s presence will be felt long after she is gone.

“What’s interesting about the absence of the Roseanne character is that these other characters have to step up and fill a void,” Caplan said. “It puts them through changes that are interesting for people that know these characters.”

For those who will be newly introduced to the Conner family upon the Oct. 16 premiere, Caplan added that the debut season will follow will be “fascinating” and relatable to everyone.

“Even if they’ve never watched the show before it’s still going to be fascinating to see how people adapt when something happens in their lives,” Caplan said. “Everyone has tragedies in their lives, or has someone they love leave them. And you have to adapt and you have to grow, and that’s what these characters are going to be going through in an interesting way.”

While it is not yet known how Roseanne Barr‘s namesake character will be written off the show, an absence that will be felt “through multiple episodes,” both current and former cast members have hinted at the exit.

In August, John Goodman, who portrays Dan Conner in the series, revealed that the Conner matriarch, who left the Conner family following a May scandal surrounding the actress and comedian, would die.

“It’s an unknown. I guess he’ll be mopey and sad because his wife’s dead,” he said at the time.

Just a month later, Barr herself suggested that her character’s absence would be the result of an opioid overdose following her knee surgery.

Caplan and Rasmussen, however, declined to confirm or deny the suggestion, stating their wish that fans “watch the show and see what happens.”

“You don’t want to be flip about how you do this. A lot of people cared about that character,” Rasmussen said. “We wanted to honor that character. People can have their opinions after that.”

However the Roseanne Bar-less The Conners deals with the matriarch’s absence on television’s most iconic couch, both the cast and crew are thankful that the story will continue, as “there was a debt owed to this fictional family,” according to Goodman. “We want to finish telling this story.”

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