ABC has confirmed that it has greenlit a Roseanne spinoff for the fall season without series creator and star Roseanne Barr.
The network had canceled the rebooted sitcom over a racist tweet by Barr but has now gone ahead with a new show after Barr agreed to forgo any creative or financial participation in it.
John Goodman, Sara Gilbert and Laurie Metcalf will reprise their roles in the new show that has the working title The Conners.
Coming back: Roseanne is returning to ABC without creator and star Roseanne Barr. John Goodman and Sara Gilbert will star in the spinoff The Conners, it was announced Thursday
Other Roseanne co-stars including Alecia Goranson and Michael Fishman will also appear in the spinoff.
In a statement issued by the show’s producer, Barr says she agreed to the settlement in order to save the jobs of 200 cast and crew members.
‘I regret the circumstances that have caused me to be removed from Roseanne,’ the 65-year-old said. ‘I agreed to the settlement in order that 200 jobs of beloved cast and crew could be saved, and I wish the best for everyone involved.’
The revival of the hit 1988-97 sitcom Roseanne was axed by ABC after Barr posted a tweet last month in which she likened former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes.
It is unclear how exactly her character will be written out of the show.
‘I wish the best for everyone involved’: In a statement, Roseanne said she agreed to have no creative or financial involvement in The Conners in order to save the jobs of 200 cast and crew
Beloved characters: John Goodman will reprise his role as patriarch Dan Conner while Laurie Metcalf will continue as Roseanne’s sister Jackie Harris in the spinoff sitcom set for the fall
Returning: Sara Gilbert and Michael Fishman will continue to play Darlene and D.J. Conner
In a joint statement, Goodman, Metcalf, Gilbert, Goranson and Fishman explained: ‘We have received a tremendous amount of support from fans of our show, and it’s clear that these characters not only have a place in our hearts, but in the hearts and homes of our audience.’
‘We all came back last season because we wanted to tell stories about the challenges facing a working-class family today. We are so happy to have the opportunity to return with the cast and crew to continue to share those stories through love and laughter,’ they said.
The stars recently signed new one-year contracts for the spinoff, keeping them at the same salaries, believed to be around $300,000 an episode, Deadline.com is reporting.
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