The ‘Roseanne’ Revival Won’t Be Pretending David Never Existed, With Or Without Johnny Galecki

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When the core returning cast of ABC’s Roseanne revival was announced — a cast that includes Barr herself, John Goodman, Sara Gilbert, Michael Fishman, Laurie Metcalf, and both Lecy Goranson and Sarah Chalke — one name remained noticeably absent: Johnny Galecki, who played Darlene’s boyfriend (and eventual husband) David Healy in the original series.

The looming question at the time was whether or not the revival would stay true to the original series finale — which revealed that David was actually with Becky and Mark with Darlene the whole time. And even if the revival decided to erase the finale’s bizarre turns (later revealed to be the plan), would Galecki even be able to participate given his commitment to The Big Bang Theory on CBS?

While we still don’t have a definitive answer to that last question, TV Line has learned that producers have “quietly” started to search for a young actress and actor to play the part of Darlene and David’s children.

Of Darlene and David’s two kids, one of them — daughter Harris — was actually introduced to viewers in Season 9’s 19th episode, when Darlene delivered the baby very prematurely. I’m told the now 14-year-old hellion will be the spitting image of Young Darlene, in appearance and attitude. Their other child, meanwhile, will be a boy under the age of 10.

Of course, we don’t necessarily need David to have David’s children represented on the show, and given the fact that Barr once claimed that if she ever did a reboot she would have the character of Darlene come out of the closet, it certainly would be easy enough to give him an out. But what might be even more interesting is if they made Darlene gay (as Sara Gilbert, who is also one of the show’s producer, is in real life) and introduced a modern co-parenting scenario into the plot. Who wouldn’t want to see David pushed around by a miniature version of Darlene? Poor guy could never catch a break.

(Via TV Line)

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