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As producers work to bring Roseanne and The Conners‘ combined 17-season run to a close, several legacy characters could resurface. The list includes Johnny Galecki‘s David Healy and Michael Fishman‘s DJ Conner, who were last seen in Seasons 2 and 4 of The Conners, respectively.
When we last encountered David, he was walking out of therapy after breaking things off with Darlene. At the time, though, it was established that David moved back to Lanford to take a more active role in Harris and Mark’s lives, which feasibly could have happened off screen. But in The Conners‘ Season 5 finale, the Powers That Be seemed to cement David’s revival status as a deadbeat when it was revealed that he hadn’t bothered with his children in four years. David was referenced twice more in the spinoff’s most recent sixth season, including Wednesday’s finale, when Mark mentioned that he hadn’t heard from David in years.
But in a new interview with TVLine, executive producers Bruce Helford and Dave Caplan say that they are open to salvaging David, previously a fan-favorite character on the original run of Roseanne, during the offshoot’s farewell season.
“The door is always open to Johnny,” Helford tells us. “I’m sure we’ll be talking to him.”
Adds fellow EP Dave Caplan: “He and Sara [Gilbert] are close, and these [final] six [episodes] will be all about completion, so it would be great to have the David character because he has been so absent from his kids’ lives.
“It’s questionable whether Darlene has any unfinished business with David,” Caplan points out, “but the kids certainly do. That’s really a matter of whether Johnny wants to do something or not…. We’re open to doing something.”
The same goes for fellow legacy cast member Michael Fishman, who was written out after Season 4. It was subsequently established that DJ is overseas with his wife Geena.
“Anything is possible,” Helford tells TVLine. “We’re more focused on story than guest stars at the moment, but there are a lot of people that we want to see again for completion, so every and any door is open.”
The Conners’ six-episode sendoff will premiere in 2025 on ABC, and the EPs previously told TVLine about the pressure that comes with carrying the weight of the Roseanne legacy.
“The whole time that we’ve been doing The Conners, we’ve never stopped feeling the pressure of the legacy of the entire run,” Caplan said. “We owe it to these characters because they’re the same characters. That is at the forefront of our minds with all of the stories that we’ve broken for The Conners, and it will be on our minds for the last six.”
It’s not like Johnny Galecki’s doing anything these days, so he better return.
I wish that Roseanne would. be brought back as it could be said that her death in the show was all a dream! They did it with the Tv.show Dallas tears ago why not with the Connors?
Johnny’s not working by choice – he’s recently married and has two very young kids (and a ton of money) and is taking a career break. He has no need to be on TV, so they’ll need a good pitch to motivate him.
Leaving Michael Fishman out would be pretty disrespectful imo so hopefully he is invited back.
He left on his own, he wasn’t forced out. It would be his choice to return or not. There is nothing negative about his absence.
Bring Roseanne back and everybody wins. If not, cancel the show. It’s not spontaneously funny without her there.
Why would Johnny return? They trashed David’s character so bad. It would be embarrassing for Johnny to return as David. This show wasn’t meant for DJ’s character so I wouldn’t mind if he didn’t make an appearance. Michael was so out of place. This is Sara and Lecy’s show. We’re lucky John and Laurie get screen time. It would be great if these next 6 episodes had John and Katie sharing scenes together. It’s forgetful sometimes Dan has a wife.
It was Johnny Galecki who decided to make David a deadbeat character not the writers. They are complying with his wishes.
That’s not exactly true. Johnny was not available to return in the revival because TBBT was still on. He barely managed to show up for one episode and they weren’t sure they were even going to get that much. Yes, he and Sara collaborated to try and figure out how to explain David’s absence to fit the plot structure that they already had and came up with the “drifter” idea, but they had to work with the concept that David was clearly not present in the family’s life and not contributing financially, because if he was they wouldn’t be able to fit the plot of Darlene having to move back to Lanford poor.
He didn’t have the option of having David be a good dad at that point.
As for making him a SUPER deadbeat later I don’t think Johnny had anything to do with that?
Sounds like there is alot they want to do with the final season. I think there gonna need more then 6 episodes. Is that number definite?
It sounds like it’s driven by budget – they went down to the wire with negotiations so it probably is definite.
We’re more focused on story than guest stars….lol. Says the guy who turned the show into literally guest stars of the week and no overarching story. If I were Fishman I would tell them to go to fly a kite.
Maybe it’s just me, but the EPs seem more interested in getting Johnny back to rehab David’s character than they do getting Michael back to end DJ’s story. I think they feel like DJ moving to be with his wife is the proper ending for that story so they are less concerned with closure on that as they are with fixing the mess they created with the atrocious writing for David’s character. I understand that Johnny didn’t want to come back full time, but even if we couldn’t see him he still could’ve been involved in his kid’s lives off screen. They obviously wanted Ben to step in as a dad figure so they removed David from the picture. Now they’re regretting that they destroyed such a beloved character and want to fix it if that’s even possible. If Johnny won’t come back I think David’s story arc will be the EP’s biggest regret of the series.
Sara Gilbert needs look at her sad life. When did Roseanne become Sara. ?? The Connors show is a disgrace. Only Lecy Goranson and John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf seem normal from the original. Sad that Katey Sagal should be asked to take over for Roseanne. Sara Gilbert goe to a living swamp that you and your trans/wife be
Well, some of this was almost coherent. Keep trying friend, you make be able to convey a complete thought someday!
Your life is sad.
It must have been cold there in our shadow…..I mean, in your windowless basement…..
Bring Rosanne back, you can write her back in where she went away to get the help she needed with the drug addiction, there’s lots of way to do that . Bring back original cast, you want this show to make it, it worked and was a great show, don’t know what you were thinking removing her for a comment made while not at work, sure it was wrong what she said. I loved the show and miss it.
She’s dead and her actress is not welcome. Get over it. She did it to herself.
Yet we’re forced to tolerate other racists like Whoopi Goldberg on The View. Being oppressed doesn’t mean you get to become the oppressor. Racism needs to be eradicated wherever it rears its ugly head regardless of the racist’s skin color. The double standard in Hollywood is obvious and the cancel culture is out of hand. The Connors is not a good show. It’s boring and more or less a picked apart corpse of its predecessor.
They could say that Roseanne didn’t really die .that it was all a dream!They did it in the Tv.show called Dallas years ago .So why not do it in The Connors ?Plus they said that Dan died in Roseanne final episode ,but yet he was in The Connors .
The way David was written into the series was bad. David was a lot of things but deadbeat didn’t fit. I understand that securing the Johnny long term wasn’t realistic but was unnecessary to bring him back as a punchline.
With Ben gone it be a perfect time for him to come back an step up as a father. Especially with Darlene having so much financial issues.
I was.just starting to watch the Conners. I like the show but why is it going off the air. Dan Is looking good and healthy for once. But he needs to put the beer away or it will put the weight back on real quick. Stop drinking dan… I would like to see Darlene and Ben standing at the alter and starting their new lives together.. keep all the characters together and start a whole new show with a new name and keep that new show going for ever…
Will there be a chance that Rosanne will reappear in the final season of the series to actually do the same thing they did by having Dan Conner pass away from a heart attack and then he was alive. It’s only fitting they bring her back for the final season cause it’s never going to be on again and she’s the reason the show was such a television hit.
The Connors wasn’t that good in the first place. I’m just glad it’s going to end. Darlene’s never been that compelling of a character and they butchered David’s character. Roseanne made the original show popular. Getting rid of her was a big mistake. What she said was wrong, but others have said worse, and they weren’t culture canceled. Whoopi Goldberg is constantly showing her racism on The View and we’re still forced to see her on television. If we want to eliminate racism, we have to cut it out like the cancer it is wherever it rears its ugly head regardless of who’s being racist. The double standards are totally obvious in Hollywood. It’s not right and those who allow it ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Johnny and Michael would be great to see, as would Natalie West and Sandra Bernhard.
I know it would never happen since they pretend Roseanne era Jackie didn’t do half the things she did, but it would be something for Fred to come back.
Making David the bad guy in the marriage was out of character. Now Darlene being an absent self centered mother I can believe. So glad I stopped watching this show before they booted Roseanne. The whole thing was a disappointment compared to the original with or without her.