‘The Conners’: John Goodman’s Dan Struggles With Roseanne’s Death

The Conners is turning up the emotion in its seventh and final season as John Goodman‘s Dan Conner struggles to come to grips with his late wife Roseanne’s death.

On Wednesday’s (April 16) episode, the Conner family continued to prepare for a lawsuit against the drug manufacturer that made the drugs that led to Roseanne’s accidental opioid overdose. However, for the deposition to be a success, attorney Jean (Jane Lynch) needs Dan to open up emotionally when talking about the tragic loss of his wife.

“I have been practicing with Dan and I can’t get him to be emotional when he talks about what happened with Roseanne. He just stuffs it down,” Jean told Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) on Wednesday’s episode, per Us Weekly. “I even sent him links from depositions where loved ones really broke down to show him what will move a jury and he never opened them.”

Later in the episode, Dan confessed to daughters Darlene (Sara Gilbert) and Becky (Lecy Goranson) that he was “hiding” from Jean so he didn’t have to face opening up.

ABC/Adam Rose

“She keeps pushing me to be more emotional for my deposition. I am just not good at opening up,” Goodman’s character shared. “I drink to get in touch with my emotions, but after five or six beers, I forget what I am supposed to be feeling.”

After citing his childhood as the reason for being a closed book, Dan admitted, “It probably won’t hurt me to try something different.” Eventually, he shed a tear while drinking a beer as Jean and Jackie sang “Danny Boy.”

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The Conners premiered on ABC on October 16, 2018, as a continuation of the hit series Roseanne. This came after the Roseanne revival was canceled after one season due to controversial comments its star Roseanne Barr made on X (then Twitter). Instead, the show spun off into The Conners, where Barr’s titular character was killed off.

Barr has hit out against the show in recent years, telling the Los Angeles Times in 2023 that she “just can’t bear” to watch it. “When they killed my character off, that was a message to me, knowing that I’m mentally ill or have mental health issues, that they did want me to commit suicide,” she stated.

She continued, “They killed my character… And all of that was to say thank you for bringing 28 million viewers, which they never had before and will never see again. Because they can kiss my a**.”