Although Roseanne franchise, this doesn’t mean that the sitcom can’t bring back a few familiar faces from the original show. Roseanne and The Conners have a long, complicated history. Roseanne originally began in 1988, and the sitcom about a working-class American family swiftly became a critical success and huge ratings hit. Roseanne retained the favor of reviewers and audiences alike until season 9, an infamously disastrous experiment that ruined the show’s blue-collar appeal by revealing the Conner family had won the lottery. Roseanne was revived in 2017.

2017’s Roseanne revival retconned season 9 and successfully recaptured the show’s original appeal. However, star Roseanne Barr was fired due to racist tweets, and the show’s title character was killed off before the next season. Roseanne became The Conners and focused on Roseanne’s grieving family. The Conners season 7 will end the franchise for good, as it is unlikely any spinoffs will follow up this six-episode outing.

6 Beverly

Roseanne and Jackie's Mother Received An Abrupt Farewell In Season 6

2025’s The Conners season 7 will be a six-episode “Farewell Event” according to The Conners season 7’s “Farewell Event” marketing suggests that this season will bring a definitive end to the series, leaving no room for subsequent spinoffs or sequel shows. As such, this will be The Conners’ last chance to bring back any fan-favorite characters from Roseanne’s original run, the show’s revival, and earlier seasons of The Conners. One such character who needs to make a comeback is Roseanne and Jackie’s mother, Estelle Parsons’ Bev.

Roseanne and Jackie’s mother was cold, cruel, and caustic throughout the show’s original run.

Beverly has been around since season 1 of Roseanne, although she has never been all that welcome in the Conner family home. Roseanne and Jackie’s mother was cold, cruel, and caustic throughout the show’s original run and its revival, and the first few seasons of The Conners did little to blunt her harsh edge. However, The Conners season 5 turned this around with an unexpectedly poignant plot. In season 5, episode 8, “Of Missing Minds and Fries,” a newly happy, confident Jackie decided to confront her mother about the years of mistreatment she received from her.

As Jackie began her cathartic confrontation with Bev, she was horrified to realize her mother had severe dementia. Jacki forgave her mother’s failings and began taking care of her, and Bev spent season 6 taking part in an experimental drug trial for her ailment. Bev’s dementia was almost entirely cured in season 6, and she finally apologized to Jackie, allowing the pair to part on good . Although this ending was sweet, The Conners season 7 needs to bring back Bev for a final farewell after her train trip across America, since the Roseanne veteran deserves a less rushed send-off.

5 David Healy

Mark and Harris Deserve Closure From Their Father

Johnny Galecki’s David Healy seemed like he was Darlene’s true love in Roseanne, so it was devastating when the show’s season 10 revival revealed that the couple broke up after their children, Harris and Mark, were born. Although The Conners season 7’s shorter run means its screen time will be limited, David needs to return so that he can bury the hatchet with Darlene and give his children closure. When David was last seen, he and Darlene were still trying to make their relationship work until a contentious therapy session proved they were bad for each other.

The Conners season 7 can still prove that David is a positive presence in the lives of his kids.

In the seasons since, Darlene found happiness with Ben and married him. Mark embraced Ben as a father figure when David failed to attend his graduation in season 5’s finale, “Grad Finale,” but Darlene’s children still deserve a real goodbye from David. While it can be hard to this, David and Darlene seemed destined to be a perfect couple throughout much of Roseanne’s original run. It is too late for them to reunite, but The Conners season 7 can still prove that David is a positive presence in the lives of his kids during this final farewell event.

4 Crystal

Season 6 Set Up A Comeback From Dan's Stepmother

Natalie West’s Crystal occupies a strange place in the history of Roseanne and The Conners. For all The Conners’ weird experiments, one of the show’s oddest choices was to marry off Dan’s father and Roseanne’s childhood friend. For most of Roseanne’s original run, Crystal was Roseanne and Jackie’s wacky friend with a tumultuous love life and a career progression that made Jackie seem like the picture of stability. However, things took a bizarre turn when Crystal married Dan’s father, becoming his stepmother even though she was younger than Roseanne's widower. The Conners largely ignored Dan’s family and this plot line.

However, season 5’s Christmas episode revealed Dan’s father died off-screen at some unspecified point, and season 6 revealed that Crystal was now in debt due to his bad financial decisions. Dan revealed that his stepmother Crystal was relying on him for money and lodging when she needed treatment for her heart condition in season 6, an unlikely twist that seemed to set up her potential death in season 7. Since Crystal has been around since Roseanne season 1 but barely appeared in recent seasons of The Conners, killing her off in season 7 would be moving without massively impacting the outing's broader plot.

3 Leon Carp

The Late Martin Mull's Iconic Roseanne Character Must Be Mentioned

While the late, great Martin Mull sadly can’t reprise the role of Roseanne’s Leon Carp in person, The Conners season 7’s ending still needs to reference this iconic character. Mull’s Leon Carp was a groundbreaking figure in LGBTQIA+ representation on American network television as one of the first openly gay characters to marry his spouse onscreen. Leon’s orientation was the subject of some off-color jokes, but the character was comparatively handled well considering the cultural norms of the ‘90s and his wedding to Fred Willard’s Scott was genuinely sweet. Mull’s death makes The Conners season 7 mentioning Leon all the more important.

Leon Carp’s marriage was an essential part of TV history and The Conners season 7 should celebrate this.

Darlene’s son Mark is also gay and has struggled with his identity growing up in the small town of Lanford, but his mother and grandmother never mentioned Leon’s existence to him. Mark should find out about Leon’s death in season 7, as this would allow The Conners to pay tribute to his real-life actor while also reflecting on the impact Leon had on television norms back in the ‘90s. Leon Carp’s marriage was an essential part of TV history and The Conners season 7 should celebrate this after earlier seasons of Roseanne’s spinoff seemingly forgot the character existed.

2 Chuckie Mitchell

Dan's Best Friend Hasn't Been Seen Since Season 5

Dan’s friend Chuck Mitchell barely appears in The Conners, but there is a reason that the character’s visits are so sparse. According to an interview the show runners did with TVLine in 2021, actor James Pickens Jr’s Grey’s Anatomy shooting schedule means he is usually too busy to reprise the role of Chuckie. Despite this, Dan’s friend did appear in season 5, and he should appear again in season 7. Chuck has been Dan’s most reliable and dependable friend since Roseanne’s early seasons, and The Conners season 7 should honor their bond by bringing him back one last time.

When viewers last saw Chuck, his wife wasn’t doing well and Chuck was struggling as a result. Darlene and Dan helped Chuck get their house in order, but the character wasn’t seen again after that. No matter where The Conners season 7’s ending leaves its characters, the show must give Chuck a fitting sendoff and reassure viewers that he and Annie are doing alright despite their lengthy absence from the series. Chuck and Dan’s friendship is well established enough for Chuck to simply reappear without an explanation for his absence, particularly since the character already did so in earlier seasons.

1 DJ

Michael Fishman's Roseanne Character Needs To Return To The Conners

The one character who truly must return in The Conners season 7 is Michael Fishman’s DJ, the missing member of Roseanne’s original family. DJ had a regular role in the first three seasons of The Conners, but his subplots became increasingly sparse around season 4. During Roseanne’s original run, DJ was the rebellious youngest child, while Becky was the ambitious over-achiever and Darlene was the moody outcast. However, this left DJ with no role to play in the revival and The Conners, so he was gradually phased out. The harsh reality of The Conners season 7 ending the series means his story needs a proper conclusion.

The Conners season 7 must explain what happened to DJ and Mary and bring them back into the family.

DJ vanished at the beginning of season 5 as he began working in another city, and his daughter Mary left the show’s main cast around the start of season 6. The Conners season 7 must explain what happened to DJ and Mary and bring them back into the family since, even if they did move out of the city, the pair would still be expected to visit once in a while. DJ’s wife Geena should also return in the final season, since it has been a long time since viewers saw her in The Conners or Roseanne.

The Conners season 7 will air in March 2025

Sources: TVLine

TVLine