Laurie Metcalf candidly addressed where she stands with Roseanne Barr after the comedian’s shocking exit from the Roseanne revival.
“There’s nothing controversial,” Metcalf, 70, told The New Yorker on Monday, April 27. “We just haven’t spoken since we said goodbye at the end of the reboot.”
Metcalf’s costar Sara Gilbert, who played Barr’s onscreen daughter, told the outlet, “We’d all had a personal relationship with Roseanne, and it was just not an easy decision for Laurie, or any of us.”
Roseanne, which originally aired on ABC from 1988 to 1997, followed the Conner family as they dealt with trials and tribulations in their working-class lives. Barr, 73, starred as Roseanne Conner, while John Goodman played her husband, Dan Conner. Their family also included Roseanne’s sister Jackie (Metcalf) and Roseanne and Dan’s kids: Darlene (Gilbert), Becky (Lecy Goranson) and D.J. (Michael Fishman).
The sitcom was briefly revived in 2018, but it was canceled after Barr sparked controversy with racially insensitive social media posts. ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey released a statement at the time announcing the network’s decision to pull Roseanne off the air.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with our values,” Dungey noted.
Barr issued an apology amid the backlash, and ABC subsequently removed all references to the revival series from its press site. Viacom also pulled all reruns of the sitcom from all of its channels.
Shortly after Roseanne was canceled in 2018, Barr sent a public message of support to Metcalf and Goodman, 73, writing via X, “I just wish ABC had not thrown two of the greatest actors in the world out with me — Laurie and John. I’m so sick over this — they will never have better character actors on their network.”
Metcalf told People later that year that both she and Gilbert reached out to Barr but hadn’t heard back “yet.”
Despite Roseanne Barr‘s absence from The Conners, her character was still front and center on the final season. Roseanne originally aired on ABC from 1988 to 1997. After being briefly revived in 2018 — and after Barr’s eventual exit from the series amid controversial social media posts — the story transformed into The Conners. The […]
Roseanne was ultimately transformed into The Conners, which was created without Barr’s involvement. The spinoff ran for seven seasons — and even mentioned Barr’s character numerous times — but Barr never returned on screen before the 2025 series finale.
“I just can’t bear it, so I don’t [watch],” Barr told the Los Angeles Times in February 2023. “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 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 ass.”
