Bruce Helford, star of the show "The Conners", explains why he killed Roseanne with an opioid addiction

As a former star of "Roseanne" Roseanne Barr lets slip Last month, the premiere of the series "The Conners" on Tuesday revealed that Barr's character has died as a result of opioid addiction. The series debuted after a series of dramatic reversals last spring: the first Barr was fired after writing a racist tweet, then the restart "Roseanne" was canceled, but finally, after Barr agreed to give up any creative or financial link, ABC brought back the cast, without Barr, for a new show called "The Conners."

Showrunner Bruce Helford now explains why he and his team chose to kill Barr's character as they did.

Helford, who has been working with Barr since the original "Roseanne" series in the 1990s, said, "I wanted a respectful departure." He told the Hollywood Reporter that killing the character with a heart attack would have been "cowardly". He said that when the series was canceled, he felt that his team and his team wanted to continue telling the family story to their audience.

"We felt like we were creating a second half – we had an infrastructure, a no-commitment distribution, a production team and a team that worked together accurately, 10 previous seasons of backstories and the hardest of all. in the country of 5,000 channels and "Fortnite": a dedicated, loyal and passionate audience. "Helford said that just weeks after the cancellation, ABC had given him the go-ahead to proceed with a reboot without Barr .

Helford explained that he and his staff did not want any "extravagant intrigue, anything that would make the fierce matriarch of the pathetic or degraded Conners look", and wanted a fence that "leaves no shadow" on the rest of society. the conners. "I also wanted a respectful message for her: a relevant message that could inspire discussion for the greater good of the American working class, whose genuine problems are often ignored by television."

He also said that he wanted to be respectful not only of Barr's character but of the actress herself. "Roseanne helped launch my career."

The showrunner said that when "The Conners" shot the first scene, he was worried, but soon, "Laurie Metcalf had a big laugh about the stews, and you could feel the audience relaxing." The response was amazing for the rest of the evening, going from dramatic moments to holding your breath to big bursts of cathartic and explosive laughter.As a writer, you can not ask for more … So, in the first episode, we cry the loss of our matriarch, she deserved it. "

The first episode of "The Conners" took place three weeks after Roseanne's funeral. Her family learns that she became secretly addicted to painkillers when she was recovering from an operation and that she died of an accidental overdose of opioids. Roseanne's addiction to painkillers was uncovered in the penultimate episode of the "Roseanne" restart.

Barr did not take the first episode well, issuing a joint statement with his friend and mentor, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who said: "We wish the best for distribution and the production team of" The Conners, "who are all deeply devoted to their craft and were Roseanne's dear colleagues, regret that ABC has chosen to cancel" Roseanne "by killing Roseanne Conner's character. She also tweeted Tuesday night: "I AM NOT DEAD, B *** HES !!!!"

Barr said in September that his character would be killed with an opioid addiction. "It was not enough to [fire me]they had to insult so cruelly the people who loved this family and this show, "she complained. I can not do anything about it. It's done. It's over. There is no more fighting. "

In August, John Goodman, star of "Conners," said that he thought that Roseanne's character would be dead. He guessed that his character, Dan Conner, Roseanne's husband, would be "mopey and sad" about the death of his wife.