Reboots and revivals are all the rage on the small screen nowadays, and TV fans get to hope that their favorite cancelled shows could come back for more. The biggest revival to be announced in a while is none other than Roseanne, which will unite the cast for new episodes for the first time since 1997. Much of the original cast is on board for the revival, including John Goodman as Dan, which came as... kind of a surprise, as his character died during the original run of the series. Now, we have an idea of how the revival is fitting Goodman into the cast: the new episodes will reportedly simply pretend that Dan never died.
Dan's death wasn't revealed until the series finale of Roseanne, in which we learned that the bonkers events of Season 9 didn't actually happen. Instead, they were the imaginings of Roseanne, who took up writing in the aftermath of her husband's death. Dan had actually died of his Season 8 heart attack and we just never knew. It was a tragic twist for the ending of a pretty funny show. TVLine reports sources indicating that John Goodman will be back as a Dan who is still quite alive and never died at all.
All things considered, ignoring the finale reveal and bringing Dan back alive and joking is probably the best route for the revival if it was going to incorporate the legendary John Goodman, who has been enthusiastic about a revival for a while now. Once it became clear that the revival wasn't going to be a mind-bending prequel of some sort, the other options for bringing him back basically consisted of dream sequences, flashbacks, and/or ghostly appearances. Flashbacks would have been a stretch, as John Goodman really can't pass as 20 years younger than his current age of 64. Dream sequences could have worked, but they would have severely limited what the show could do with a character. As for a return as a ghost... well, I'm not even going to try and justify that as a way to go.
A big question now is how much of the rest of Season 9 didn't actually happen. Season 9 is widely considered the worst of the series as it departed from much of what made the characters so enjoyable and relatable in the first place. If Dan never died, then maybe Roseanne never started writing scenarios in which he was still alive, and maybe we can forget all of Season 9 ever happened. Alternately, Roseanne could have taken up writing for a less tragic reason, and we can just tell ourselves that the surprise reveal that Dan was dead never occurred in the finale. We'll have to wait and see.
The Roseanne revival will debut on ABC in spring 2018 as an eight-episode limited series, focusing on the life of a family living from paycheck to paycheck in 2018. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in Roseanne news, and don't forget to check out our summer TV premiere schedule to discover all your viewing options now and in the coming weeks. Be sure to drop by our rundowns for cable/streaming and broadcast TV renewals and cancellations as well. Our TV season finale schedule can give you all you need to know about your shows ending.
