Roseanne‘s infamously outrageous series finale didn’t exactly do its 2018 revival any favors, but we suppose those sorts of goodbyes aren’t traditionally designed to have an escape hatch for a return decades down the line. When word came that John Goodman would be back for Roseanne‘s Trump Years rebirth, it seemed to signal that his character Dan wasn’t dead and that events of the finale didn’t happen. That’s not 100% how it’s set to play out, apparently.
ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey spoke about the iconic sitcom’s return during today’s TCA executive sessions discussion. Dungey has good news about the fate of Dan, but it doesn’t mean the program’s past has been given a Will & Grace type scrub.
“I wouldn’t say that it is ignoring the events of the finale, but I can confirm that Dan is definitely still alive,” offered Dungey to the press.
He also sounds confident that the program will recapture its glory of before. Promising news for folks that were put off by the, uh, creatively daring final season. (It was a weird batch of episodes.)
“We had a lot of conversations with [executive producer] Tom Werner when he first came in to talk about doing the show,” said Dungey. “We’ve now heard the broad strokes of the creative for these 8 episodes, and feel confident that it’s going to return to the show that everyone knew and loved.”
Speaking of broad strokes, there doesn’t appear to be a definitive answer on whether or not Johnny Galecki will be returning to the series. Talks are currently still ongoing for the Big Bang Theory star’s potential Roseanne revisitation.