‘The Conners’: Why Some Beloved Characters Were Missing From Wedding Episode

On the most recent episode of The Conners, Dan (John Goodman) married his longtime love Louise (Katey Sagal). Many of the familiar faces that fans have come to love were in attendance for the pair’s nuptials. However, there were also certain characters who were missing in action for Louise and Dan’s big day, including Bev, played by Estelle Parsons, and Chuck, played by James Pickens Jr. While speaking with TV Line, executive producers Bruce Helford and Dave Caplan shared why fans didn’t see certain individuals during the episode. 

Helford and Caplan were asked why some characters, namely Bev, Ed Jr., Crystal, DJ’s wife Geena, and Dan’s friends Chuck and Dwight, weren’t in attendance. According to the producers, there are some very simple reasons why those characters did not show up for Dan and Louise’s wedding. The biggest reason behind their absences had to do with the “availability of the actors.” As for Pickens Jr., his duties on Grey’s Anatomy prevented him from reprising his role of Chuck for the episode. 

“James Pickens Jr., for instance, has this really hardcore schedule over on Grey’s Anatomy, and it’s very hard for Estelle Parsons to travel right now, so that was all in the midst of the discussion,” Helford explained. “There would have been a lot of those people, but they weren’t available. We also had in mind that we didn’t want to crowd the stage during COVID.” In addition to opening up about the characters who were missing from the wedding, Helford and Caplan also discussed the lack of Roseanne mentions during the wedding episode. The producers explained that it was a conscious decision to not reference the character after much discussion in the writers’ room about the matter.

“That was a big topic of discussion in the writers’ room, about how much to have that discussion [in these early Season 4 episodes],” Caplan said. “We took such care during the whole first season, after the character wasn’t in the show anymore, and we’ve never shied away from discussing Roseanne Conner’s impact on the family. Dan had such a difficult time dealing with her death and moving on, and we felt like we were very thorough there, and very respectful of both the Roseanne character and of Dan’s feelings.” Helford added that they aren’t done talking about Roseanne on the show, as the late character will be a matter of discussion as Louise officially moves into the Conners residence.