The Conners: Why is Roseanne not a part of ABC's direct sequel? Character's exit explored 

ABC's The Conners, the hit sitcom Roseanne's direct spin-off, had its fair share of controversies before finding its own way with the audience.

Roseanne, which debuted in 1988, was a hit sitcom based on the struggles of a working-class family, the Conners. The show was a huge hit until Season 9, which showed the family winning a lottery overnight. The show did not sit right with the audience and critics and was concluded.

It was finally revived with Season 10 in 2018, which saw the return of comedian Roseanne Barr as the show's protagonist.

But this revival was also short-lived because of Barr's racist comments on X against former Barack Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett. Barr did not return when The Conners was announced because of the hate she received online because of her comments.

More on Barr's racist comments, which fired her from Roseanne's spin-off in our story.

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Why was Barr fired before Roseanne's spin-off The Conners?

Makers of Roseanne were forced to continue the show's eleventh season as the spin-off The Conners because of its titular character's online activity. After Roseanne's revival with a successful tenth season, it seemed like the show had returned to its footing and was announced for an eleventh season.

But before it could have gotten aboard, Barr's online activity on X forced the makers to fire her and cancel Roseanne's eleventh season.

Barr took to X to post about former Barack Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett and called her appearance a combination of "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby", Her extreme racist comments about Jarrett did not sit right with the audience, and even her co-star Sara Gilbert and writer Wanda Skyes.

The online backlash and hatred grew so much that Barr was fired from the job, and Roseanne Season 11 was canceled until it finally became The Conners without Barr.

After this incident, Barr appeared with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach at the Saban Theatre for an event, where she discussed her comments:

"I'm a lot of things, a loud mouth and all that stuff. But I'm not stupid for God's sake. I never would have wittingly called any black person, [I would never had said] they are a monkey."

Barr also discussed that she practically 'begged' the creators to take her back on the show, but eventually, she was fired from the job.

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Roseanne's character was killed off-screen before The Conners

After Barr's firing and Roseanne Season 11 cancelation, the makers discussed a potential season with the show's cast without Barr, and they all agreed to return.

A Roseanne sans Roseanne would not have sufficed; thus, The Conners was born in October 2018 without the titular character of Roseanne. In the pilot of the spin-off, titled 'Keep on Truckin', it was shown that Roseanne died off-screen because of an opioid addiction she had kept a secret from her family.

While it was difficult for the show to find its grounding again without its titular character, it was able to rectify some mistakes from its predecessor's later seasons. It was able to connect with the audience with its old, family comedy charm.

In addition, actress Katey Sagal filled the position of Dan's wife as Louise Conner. She was Roseanne's former high school classmate, who ultimately became Dan's partner after his wife's death.

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