'The Conners': Justin Long to Recur as Love Interest for [Spoiler]

The list of famous faces appearing on ABC’s upcoming Roseanne spinoff keeps getting, ahem, longer. TVLine has confirmed that Justin Long (New Girl) will recur on The Conners as Neil, a love interest for none other than Sara Gilbert’s Darlene.

As previously reported, Darlene’s ex-husband David (played by The Big Bang Theory‘s Johnny Galecki) will also appear in the spinoff, as will his yet-unseen girlfriend Blue (Secrets and Lies‘ Juliette Lewis). And while we’re on the subject of romance, the show’s Oct. 30 installment — which keeps up Roseanne‘s long-standing tradition of Halloween episodes — introduces Steve Zahn (The Crossing) as a new love interest for Jackie. Per the episode’s official synopsis, Jackie “insists that Dan vet him, only to immediately wish that she hadn’t.” No surprise there.

ABC recently treated fans to a surprisingly upbeat promo for The Conners, underscored by a cheery cover of “Life is a Highway.” Nowhere in the 30-second video does anyone appear upset about the loss of the family matriarch, who — according to Roseanne Barr — died of an opioid overdose. “It’s so cynical and horrible,” Barr recently said on the YouTube show Walk Away. “She should have died as a hero, or not at all. … It wasn’t enough to [fire me], they had to so cruelly insult the people who loved that family and that show.” (ABC has not confirmed Barr’s claim.)

The Conners premieres Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 8/7c on ABC. Your thoughts on Darlene potentially finding new love with Long’s character? Drop ’em in a comment below.

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