‘Roseanne’ Reboot: Johnny Galecki In Talks To Return, New Installment Will Be ‘Very Topical’ – TCA
ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey confirmed that the upcoming Roseanne revival will ignore the fact of Dan (John Goodman)’s death in the last season finale back in 1997.
Dungey made the statement at TCA today during the executive sessions discussion.
“I can confirm that Dan is still alive,” she said. As for whether the show will re-frame other factors in the previous ending, such as Roseanne’s sister Jackie (Laurie Metcalfe) coming out as gay, Dungey was tight-lipped. However, she did admit that Johnny Galecki may indeed return to the show in the role of David, although as yet, nothing is confirmed, as she said, “Those conversations are still in progress.”
Roseanne Barr – the show’s namesake – is on board, Dungey said. “What we’ve heard from Roseanne is she’s very excited about the show and she is going to be on the show,” she said. But, when asked whether she was concerned about Barr’s somewhat conspiracy theory-centered Twitter feed, Dungey said, “She publicly announced a few weeks ago her son is going to be taking over her Twitter feed for the near future. We did not ask her to do that. She made that decision.” Then Dungey added wryly, “I try to just worry about the things that I can control.”
As for assurances that the show will not devolve into what happened in Season 9 when Barr had creative control, Dungey said, “We’ve now heard the broad strokes of the eight episodes of the show, and we feel really confident that this will return to the show that we know and loved.” When asked whether the show will be tonally similar to what we’ve seen before, Dungey said, “It is honest, it is irreverent at times, and it’s also really, really funny.”
She added that the show would be “very topical,” but would not deal with Trump directly. “We’re not talking specifically about the universe that we live in, in that way,” she said, “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, and we’re not necessarily talking about the occupants of the White House.”
Roseanne will begin shooting in October, Dungey confirmed.
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