"She's really something," Jackie Harris—Laurie Metcalf in real life—says in the exclusive video above about her TV sister, Roseanne Conner. And she's right. In the above exclusive sneak peek, go behind the scenes of the new season of Roseanne. The more things change, the more things seem to stay the same.
ABC's Roseanne revival reunited Metcalf with Rosanne Barr, John Goodman, Sara Gilbert, Michael Fishman, Lecy Goranson and Sarah Chalke, all members of the TV Conner clan.
"Times change," the promo says. "She doesn't." Yup, that laugh is back.
The new season, nine episodes, is set in current times, more than 20 years after the series ended. And yes, the series did end with Barr's character revealing the series had been made up. Dan (Goodman) died, he didn't have an affair. Jackie was a lesbian, Darlene (Gilbert) and Becky (Goranson/Chalke) were with the opposite husband. All of that will be explained…somehow.
ABC boss Channing Dungey wouldn't say how the show was going to rewrite the finale but said, "I'm not going to talk too specifically about the season. I wouldn't say that it's ignoring the events of the finale, but I can say that Dan is definitely alive."
Could Roseanne Conner be adding a new chapter to her story? We do know the new episodes will go there, meaning pretty much no topic is off limits.
"It is very much tonally similar to the original show. It is unflinching, it is honest, it is irreverent at times, and it's also really, really funny," Dungey said about the new season at the 2017 TCA summer press tour. "Very topical. We're not talking specifically about the universe that we live in in that way, but we are addressing issues like foreclosure. We're addressing how difficult it is for people to get medical insurance. We're talking about topics in a bigger, broader way. We're not necessarily talking about the occupants of the White House."
As for the two Beckys, Chalke will play a new character who is employing Becky (Goranson) as a surrogate.
Other returning cast members include Johnny Galecki, Estelle Parsons, Sandra Bernhard, James Pickens Jr., Natalie West and Adilah Barnes.
Roseanne returns on Tuesday, March 27 at 8 p.m. on ABC.