The Conners showrunner Bruce Helford has explained why the series chose to kill off Rosanne Barr’s character with a prescription drug overdose.
Roseanne returned to television in 2017 to strong ratings, but Barr’s racist statements on Twitter in May of 2018 got the show canceled by ABC. The series was eventually revived as The Conners, returning to television screens earlier this week. While almost the entire cast and crew have returned, Roseanne (and the character heavily based on her) have been written off the show. In the first episode of The Conners, the character of Roseanne is revealed to have died of a painkiller overdose. This actually played off the character’s growing addiction to the drugs following surgery, which was a minor subplot of the Roseanne revival.
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Writing an op-ed for The Hollywood Reporter, Roseanne and The Conners showrunner Bruce Helford elaborated on his decision to ultimately kill off the character instead of just writing her off the show.
“There was a lot of chatter in the ether about how we should explain Roseanne’s absence,” said Helford. “Should she have a sudden heart attack, a mental breakdown or go off into the sunset on a boat with her son Jerry Garcia? But back in the writers room, we firmly decided against anything cowardly or far-fetched, anything that would make the fierce matriarch of the Conners seem pathetic or debased.”
Helford also saw the decision as an opportunity to explore a serious topic; the rise of opioid-related deaths in America.
“I wanted a respectful sendoff for her, too: One that was relevant and could inspire discussion for the greater good about the American working class, whose authentic problems are often ignored by broadcast television,” said Helford. “If you watched the first episode, I hope you’ll agree we did that.”
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For her part, Roseanne Barr doesn’t seem to care for the way her character was written off the show. The actor and comedian has spent the last few months defending herself and the sense of humor that got her fired from the ABC series. She released a statement after the episode aired, decrying the death. The statement reads in-part that “[the death] was done through an opioid overdose lent an unnecessary grim and morbid dimension to an otherwise happy family show.”
Airing Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, The Conners stars John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson, Michael Fishman, Emma Kenney, Ames McNamara, Jayden Rey and Maya Lynne Robinson.