TV John Goodman says The Conners will kill off Roseanne By Lynette Rice Lynette Rice Editor at Large for Entertainment Weekly, host of Outlander Live! on EW Radio, and Mark Harmon enthusiast. Yes, I know the guacamole is extra. EW's editorial guidelines Published on August 27, 2018 05:25PM EDT Roseanne will apparently be killed off in The Conners. That’s according to John Goodman, who gave an interview to the Sunday Times about how the sitcom will address the absence of Roseanne Barr when it debuts this fall on ABC. “I guess he’ll [Dan Conner] be mopey and sad because his wife’s dead,” Goodman said in his first interview since the Roseanne spin-off was announced. ABC didn’t indicate how it would explain Barr’s absence when it announced in June that it would spin off Roseanne into The Conners, which will star Goodman, Laurie Metcalf (Jackie), Sara Gilbert (Darlene), Lecy Goranson (Becky), and Michael Fishman (D.J.). “The spin-off will continue to portray contemporary issues that are as relevant today as they were 30 years ago,” the network said in a statement at the time. Goodman said he was initially “broken-hearted” when ABC canceled the sitcom because of Barr’s racist tweet about Barack Obama’s former adviser Valerie Jarrett. “I know for a fact that she’s not a racist,” Goodman told the magazine. “I was surprised. I’ll put it this way, I was surprised at the response.” He admitted that he hasn’t been in touch with Barr. “[Roseanne] had to sign a paper saying that she relinquished all her rights to the show so that we could go on,” he said. “I sent her an email and thanked her for that. I did not hear anything back, but she was going through hell at the time. And she’s still going through hell.” The Conners will premiere at Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.