In 2018, TV comedy show Roseanne dominated viewing ratings with its triumphant return, reportedly averaging 10.3 million viewers most Tuesday nights. However, it all came crashing down when star of the series Roseanne Barr posted a racist tweet about former Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett.

Tweeting in response to a post about the African-American woman who was born in Iran, the 65-year-old actress wrote "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj" and was soon after fired from the sitcom, with ABC naming her post "abhorrent" and "repugnant".

Luckily for keen viewers, a new spin-off called The Conners was announced weeks after, with all of the cast set to return aside from the shamed Barr. The announcement spurred fans to speculate how exactly the TV network would be dealing with the actress' absence; however, this week her character's fate was seemingly finally revealed by her former co-star John Goodman.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, the actor appeared to reveal that the new show would explain his onscreen wife's absence simply by killing her off.

When questioned on whether he expected the new series to be recommissioned, Goodman let out the secret that every fan wanted to know when he said: "It’s an unknown. I guess he’ll be mopey and sad because his wife’s dead." ABC has not yet confirmed that this is Roseanne's fate on the show.

In the same interview, Goodman spoke about Barr's big mistake that led to the termination of her contract. When asked how he felt about ABC's response, after a long pause he told the newspaper: "I was surprised. I’ll put it this way, I was surprised at the response." After another pause, he added, "And that’s probably all I should say about it." However, after "one more lengthy silence", he stated: "I know—I know—for a fact that she’s [Barr] not a racist."

The 66-year-old also opened up further about his reaction to the incident, telling his interviewer that the show's cancellation sent him into a downward spiral emotionally. "I was brokenhearted, but I thought, ‘OK, it’s just show business, I’m going to let it go,’" he said. "But I went through a period, about a month, where I was very depressed. I’m a depressive anyway, so any excuse that I can get to lower myself, I will. But that had a great deal to do with it, more than I wanted to admit."

Whereas certain other members of the Roseanne cast have slammed Barr in the press in the aftermath of her tweet, Goodman appeared to have a somewhat more sympathetic response to the incident, claiming he had reached out to Barr in the wake of the scandal.

"She had to sign a paper saying that she relinquished all her rights to the show so that we could go on," he explained. "I sent her an email and thanked her for that. I did not hear anything back, but she was going through hell at the time. And she’s still going through hell."

The Conners premieres Tuesday October 16 2018 with an 8pm slot on ABC.

In 2018, TV comedy show Roseanne dominated viewing ratings with its triumphant return, reportedly averaging 10.3 million viewers most Tuesday nights. However, it all came crashing down when star of the series Roseanne Barr posted a racist tweet about former Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett.

Tweeting in response to a post about the African-American woman who was born in Iran, the 65-year-old actress wrote "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj" and was soon after fired from the sitcom, with ABC naming her post "abhorrent" and "repugnant".

Luckily for keen viewers, a new spin-off called The Conners was announced weeks after, with all of the cast set to return aside from the shamed Barr. The announcement spurred fans to speculate how exactly the TV network would be dealing with the actress' absence; however, this week her character's fate was seemingly finally revealed by her former co-star John Goodman.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, the actor appeared to reveal that the new show would explain his onscreen wife's absence simply by killing her off.

When questioned on whether he expected the new series to be recommissioned, Goodman let out the secret that every fan wanted to know when he said: "It’s an unknown. I guess he’ll be mopey and sad because his wife’s dead." ABC has not yet confirmed that this is Roseanne's fate on the show.

In the same interview, Goodman spoke about Barr's big mistake that led to the termination of her contract. When asked how he felt about ABC's response, after a long pause he told the newspaper: "I was surprised. I’ll put it this way, I was surprised at the response." After another pause, he added, "And that’s probably all I should say about it." However, after "one more lengthy silence", he stated: "I know—I know—for a fact that she’s [Barr] not a racist."

The 66-year-old also opened up further about his reaction to the incident, telling his interviewer that the show's cancellation sent him into a downward spiral emotionally. "I was brokenhearted, but I thought, ‘OK, it’s just show business, I’m going to let it go,’" he said. "But I went through a period, about a month, where I was very depressed. I’m a depressive anyway, so any excuse that I can get to lower myself, I will. But that had a great deal to do with it, more than I wanted to admit."

Whereas certain other members of the Roseanne cast have slammed Barr in the press in the aftermath of her tweet, Goodman appeared to have a somewhat more sympathetic response to the incident, claiming he had reached out to Barr in the wake of the scandal.

"She had to sign a paper saying that she relinquished all her rights to the show so that we could go on," he explained. "I sent her an email and thanked her for that. I did not hear anything back, but she was going through hell at the time. And she’s still going through hell."

The Conners premieres Tuesday October 16 2018 with an 8pm slot on ABC.