Roseanne Barr's firing, the revamped sequel spinoff has maintained everything that its parent series was known for, but without its titular character. Instead, the focus of its storytelling has been dispersed to the remaining ensemble. Instead of opening up opportunities to explore other characters, however, The Conners' cast has only gotten smaller in recent years.

When the original Roseanne show was revived, ABC kept much of the legacy show's charm by just simply continuing the family's story. Granted that it was already several years since they were last seen on the small screen, the network was able to recapture the same feel and tone of the cult favorite, resulting in one of the rare immediate revival successes. To be able to do that, however, the creatives behind the show had to make changes from Roseanne's divisive capper in 1997. However, some of those plot points continue to be confusing, including the true status of Jerry.

The Conners' Producer Teased The Show Could Solve What Happened With Dan & Jerry

Dan & Jerry Has An Ongoing Rift, Allegedly

Throughout the majority of Roseanne's run, Dan and Roseanne had three kids — Becky, Darlene, and DJ. As far as sitcoms that deal with young kids as part of its cast, that was the norm. In any case, three children was already stretching the family's finances. However, the couple had a surprise pregnancy late into the show's run, resulting in the birth of Jerry. Unlike his siblings, however, he was far too young to really make an impression, but his existence was well-established.

There continues to be some misconception that the revival retconned Jerry's existence simply because he continues to be absent well into The Conners. However, it was actually explained that Jerry's absence was on a fishing expedition in Alaska in Roseanne season 10. While a conversation later on had Dan essentially claim that he and his late wife only have three children, showrunner Bruce Helford previously teased a resolution for this mystery (via TV Line), saying:

“Dan said he only had three children, but is he so angry at Jerry, for something we learn about later, that he denies him as a son?” Helford muses. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

The Conners Season 7 Addressing Jerry Would Be Great

It Would Strengthen The Roseanne Franchise

ittedly, retcons and plot inconsistencies are not easy to totally get rid of. Sometimes, revivals and spinoffs need to change details from the flagship for their own storytelling. However, as far as that goes, addressing Jerry's status, regardless of what it is, really doesn't have a negative impact on The Conners storytelling. If anything, finally settling it could be a big boost to how the show will wrap up the Roseanne franchise. For what it's worth, based on Helford's comment, it sounds like they have an idea of how to explain Jerry's absence, even on the heels of Roseanne's death.

Perhaps Jerry not coming home for his mom's death is the exact reason his dad is mad at him. Considering how much Dan loved Roseanne and his family, it isn't difficult to imagine him taking to heart that his youngest didn't even seem to try hard enough to make his way back to Lanford to the family as they grieve their biggest loss to date. After that, the lack of any communication between Dan and Jerry may have just got everyone used to this conflict that doesn't really impact their day-to-day lives but is looming in the background.

The Conners Season 7 Probably Can't Include Jerry

It's A Short Farewell Year For The Conners

Helford's tease is already 5 years old. The Conners has had several opportunities to pay it off since then, but there's barely any movement to set up the resolution that he mentioned. Now that The Conners season 7 is about to commence, the ABC sitcom has its final opportunity to make something out of it. Unfortunately, as great as it would be to see this finally come to fruition, the chances of it happening are very small to none, primarily because of the show's truncated run.

Instead of its usual 18+ output per year, The Conners is wrapping its run and the Roseanne franchise with a 6-episode farewell event. Given all the more pressing lingering storylines that it needs to tackle, it's doubtful that Helford and his team would have extra screentime to address Jerry's absence. That's a major disappointment for long-time fans of the family comedy, but arguably, forcing out DJ from the show after appearing in it is a far worse crime than leaving Jerry's fate uncertain.