WhileThe Connersmade the unprecedented move of killing off the sitcom’s former title character, many ofRoseanneseason 1’s other main characters can still be found in the spinoff series.The ConnersandRoseannehave a complex shared history.Roseannebegan in 1988 and the sitcom about a middle American working-class family and their sardonic matriarch immediately proved a big hit.Roseanneenjoyed fairly consistent critical acclaim and awards attention throughout its original run until the infamously badRoseanneseason 9 upended the series. InRoseanneseason 9, the family won the lottery and became millionaires, resulting in a zanier show.
The Conners Seasons 2 & 4 Featured The Show’s Two Weirdest Ever Experiments & It’s Good They Were Never Revisited
The Conners season 4 included one of the weirdest experimental episodes in recent sitcom history, despite the reputation of Roseanne’s spinoff.
Roseanneseason 9 was retconned by the show’s 2017 revival, which brought back the entire original cast. When original star Roseanne Barr was fired due to racist remarks onTwitter, the show killed off its original title character and changed its name.The Conners’ cast of characterswas large and likable enough to make it through this major change, and the spinoff managed to hold onto most of the show’s audience. 2025’sThe Connersseason 7will be the sitcom franchise’s final outing, and it shares a surprising number ofRoseanneseason 1 stars.
6Dan
John Goodman’s Roseanne Love Interest Dan Was Always A Pivotal Character
Roseanne’s love interest Dan appears in all ten seasons ofRoseanneand all seven seasons ofThe Conners, although he was technically killed off in the show’s original finale. Dan was a dependable, hard-working husband throughoutRoseanneseasons 1—8 and, although he was often more laidback than Roseanne, he reliably supported his wife and their children through a lot of hardship and conflict. However, Dan’s character went through an infamous transformation in season 9 when his actor, John Goodman, needed some time off the show to shoot various other projects. This adversely affected his storyline in the series.
Roseanneseason 9 saw Dan spend a lot of time away from home, with Goodman only appearing in roughly half of the season’s critically reviled outings. Dan was away taking care of his ailing mother, but a bombshell twist revealed that he was also embarking on an affair with his mother’s nurse. This infamous twist felt painfully out of character for the loyal Dan, and it was roundly rejected by viewers.Roseanne’s season 9 finalemade this worse when the show revealed that Dan’s affair was all merely an imagined subplot in a novel Roseanne was writing, and he actually died before the season began.
Dan retired inThe Connersseason 3 but continued to work in Ben’s family hardware store to pay off his mortgage.
This twist was a step too far for fans and the finale soon became one of the most hated in TV history.Roseanneseason 10 immediately retconned this twist by revealing that, although Roseanne did write a novel detailing season 9’s wild events, Dan never really died.Dan became an even more central character after Roseanne’s off-screen death, eventually marrying Katey Sagal’s Louise in season 4 of the spinoff. Dan retired inThe Connersseason 3 but continued to work in Ben’s family hardware store to pay off his mortgage. Season 6 saw Dan finally finish his repayments.
5Jackie
Laurie Metcalf’s Roseanne Heroine Became The Conners’ Leading Lady
Dan finally paying off his mortgage was bittersweet since his first wife and the mother of his children weren’t there to share in his happiness. However,Roseanne’s sister Jackie plays just as big a role inThe Connersas she did in the original showand its revival. Laurie Metcalf’s Jackie was an almost tragically unlucky figure throughoutRoseanne’s original run, jumping from one failed job to another and leaping between unsuccessful relationships just as quickly. Fortunately, her luck finally picked up in the later seasons ofThe Connerswhen she met and married the sweet vet Neville.
Jackie retired in season 6, meaningThe Connersseason 7 endingcould see Jackie become the most financially stable and personally contented of the show’s heroes. It is hard to imagineRoseanne’s luckless deuteragonist managing to turn her life around so profoundly, but Jackie’s self-improvement was hard-won. A stint as a life coach imbued her with a bullish resilience that eventually led Jackie to even bury her decades-long feud with her mother, Beverly. In season 5, episode 8, “Of Missing Minds and Fries,” Jackie proved she really was a changed woman when she confronted, and later comforted, Bev.
4Beverly
Roseanne And Jackie’s Mother Is Still Around In The Conners
Any viewers who wondered how Roseanne ended up so caustically sarcastic and Jackie ended up so neurotic didn’t have to ponder the question for long. Estelle Parsons’ Beverly was a frequent guest star in the series fromRoseanneseason 1 onward, and Roseanne and Jackie’s acerbic mother could always be relied on to criticize, mock, or otherwise demean her daughters. The genuine nastiness of Bev’s bad parenting sometimes pushed past sitcom fun and became unpleasant, andRoseanne’s original run didn’t avoid this dark reality. As such, it was something of a surprise when Bev resurfaced inThe Connersseason 2.
Bev and Jackie finally made peace before Bev’s cross-country trip began, so it is hard to tell whether she will return in The Conners season 7.
However, Bev not only remained a fixture in the spinoff, but even managed to salvage her relationship with her surviving daughter after her dementia diagnosis. InThe Conners’ best episode, Jackie confronted Bev about decades of mistreatment, only for her cathartic lecture to be cut short when she realized her mother wasn’t entirely mentally present. In a surprising twist,season 6 saw an experimental drug trial drastically improve Beverly’s mental functioning, allowing her to travel across America unaccompanied. Bev and Jackie finally made peace before Bev’s big cross-country trip began, so it is hard to tell whether she will return inThe Connersseason 7.
3Darlene
Sara Gilbert’s Sardonic Teen Became A Mother In Roseanne’s Ending
WhileThe Connersnever officially replaced Roseanne,Darlene took over her mother’s role in the spinoff after Roseanne died off-screen. Sara Gilbert’s character was already central toRoseanneseason 10 and her children, Harris and Mark, were the most important new characters in the series. ThroughoutRoseanne’s original run, Darlene was a moody teenager who was mostly concerned with getting out of Lanford and her messy relationship with Johnny Galecki’s David Healy.The Connersjumped ahead in time to Darlene’s middle age, when she had given up on her dreams of writing to pay for her children’s schooling.
Ames McNamara
Mark Conner-Healy
David proved an unhelpful father figure and Darlene eventually broke up with him to date Ben, who she married inThe Connersseason 4 finale.The Connersseason 7’s finalespawning spinoffs seems unlikely, but Darlene would almost certainly be the show’s main character if there was to be a direct follow-up. Her similarities with Roseanne gave the pair one of the original show’s most compelling relationships. Fortunately, Ben’s purchase ofHardwaremagazine inThe Connersseason 6 finale means that in season 7 Darlene may finally realize her dream of writing professionally, which she shared with her late mother.
2Becky
Lecy Goranson’s Character Was Repeatedly Recast In Roseanne and The Conners
Although he was a pivotal character inRoseanne,The Connersdropped Michael Fishman’s DJ before season 5 of the spinoff began airing. The rebellious young son of the Conner clan never had a well-defined role in the spinoff, and the show needed more screen time for his sisters. Becky, who was played by Lucy Goranson early inRoseanne’s original run, remains a fixture inThe Connersseason 7. Interestingly, Goranson was replaced byScrubsstar Sarah Chalke midway throughRoseanne’s run, but she returned to the role for the 2017 revival and subsequent seasons ofThe Conners.
The Connersseason 7 will air in March 2025, according toTVLine.
In a clever meta nod to this casting change, Goranson’s Becky acted as a surrogate for a character played by Chalke inRoseanneseason 10. Becky wasn’t able to go through with the surrogacy in the end, but she did end up having a baby of her own. Beverly-Rose was attending school by the timeThe Connersseason 6 took place, while her mother was finishing a Psychology course to qualify as a counselor and dating Sean Astin’s Tyler. It is hard to tell whetherThe Connersseason 7 could end Becky’s storyhappily after her character’s heartache, but this romance bodes well.
1Crystal
Roseanne’s Old Friend Eventually Became Dan’s Unlikely Mother-In-Law
Natalie West’s Crystal was a major player in the early seasons ofRoseannewhere she acted as the flighty, funny friend of Roseanne and Jackie. Crystal could always be relied on for a funny one-liner, and she dated Tom Arnold’s Arnie for multiple seasons before he was written out of the series. Crystal doesn’t appear in every episode ofThe Conners, but she does play a surprisingly important role in the spinoff. Where otherRoseannesupporting stars like Leon Carp never appeared in the follow-up, Crystal became part of the family by dating and later marrying Dan’s father.
Dan felt responsible for Crystal’s situation. since his father’s death left her penniless,
Bizarrely, this means that Crystal is now Dan’s mother-in-law. In season 6, it was revealed that she has been relying on him for money since facing a health crisis. Dan felt responsible for Crystal’s situation since his father’s death left her penniless, and Jackie’s husband, Neville, was heartbroken to discover that his brother-in-law was carrying this burden alone. Crystal’s death seems almost inevitable inThe Connersseason 7’s ending, since her role in the spinoff is minimal, and she rarely interacts with other characters. Furthermore, as morbid as it sounds, Crystal’s passing could give the heroes ofRoseanneandThe Connersthe financial stability they have fruitlessly pursued for decades.
