Characters / Roseanne & The Conners

Characters in the universe of Roseanne and its aftershow The Conners:

Main Family

Roseanne Conner

Roseanne Conner

Played By: Roseanne Barr (credited as Roseanne Barr, then Roseanne Arnold, then Roseanne, and finally Roseanne Barr)^note Roseanne wed Tom Arnold but then split from him, hence the uncertainty of her name credit.

Appearances: Roseanne

A bossy, loud, caustic, overweight, and dominant woman. She frequently meddles and tries to control the lives of her husband, daughters, sons, sister, and friends. Despite her dominating nature, Roseanne is a loving mother who works hard and makes as much time for her kids as possible. Sadly, after developing an addiction to painkillers, she accidentally dies via overdose sometime between Season 10 and The Conners.

---

• Abusive Parents: The case is made several times through the show that Roseanne herself is emotionally and verbally abusive. Her highly sarcastic attitude leads her to often be dismissive of other people's feelings.
  • In the revival, her previous strict standards against physical abuse lapse and she dunks Harris' head in the sink and sprays her with the hose for being a giant brat. Although given the change in her views between the two it's hardly surprising.
• Angry Chef: In the later seasons, when she is working at the Lanford Lunchbox diner. She is frequently snarky and sarcastic to the customers.
  Roseanne: Can I help you?
  Customer: Uh, yeah. Which is better, the tuna salad or the egg salad?
  Roseanne: Tuna salad... egg salad... chicken salad... turkey salad... shrimp salad. What difference does it make? It's all just different words for mayonnaise. Pick one.
• Author Avatar: Being originally based on Barr's work as a stand-up comedian, this show screams it, almost from day one. By the time she has bought into her own media hype, it all but beats you over the head with its self-indulgence. The final episode proves it's also an in-universe example, as Roseanne reveals that the entire series was the book she's been writing in her office in the basement, and the self-indulgence the show descended into is her way of escaping from and fixing the things she felt were out of place in her life, but out of her control. This is Retconed in the revival, where it's revealed that that the ending was just an in universe book Roseanne herself wrote.
• Berserk Button: Any mention of Dan's prior one-time fling with Roseanne's high school nemesis, Phyllis Zimmer.
• Big Beautiful Woman: Her curves are quite glorious. Especially when they were on full display in the dress she wore in "Satan, Darling".
• Big Sister Bully: Roseanne protective instincts didn't keep her from bullying Jackie like crazy well into adulthood.
• Big Sister Instinct: Towards Jackie, especially during the two-part Fisher episode.
  "If you ever come near her again you're gonna have to deal with me, and I am way more dangerous than Dan. I got a loose meat restaurant; I know what to do with the body."
• Character Death: As of the first episode of The Conners, due to Roseanne being fired for her widely reported racist tweets.
• Control Freak: She believes she has the right to domineer over her family, including Dan. And if she doesn't get her way, she'd go on a rage-filled rampage.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Roseanne's father was physically abusive to his daughters.
• Deadpan Snarker: Pretty much everyone in the family cracks wise.
• Death by Irony: Roseanne predicted in "Fights and Stuff" that she would outlive Dan given his health problems stemming from his 400 pound weight. She ends up being outlived by Dan since her own obesity problems started to break down her knees and the painkiller drugs she took for that killed her.
• Death by Racism: Interesting Meta-Twist on the trope, as it is the supposed racist behavior of the actress Roseanne Barr that directly causes the death of her Character at the hands of her show's writers and producers.
• Flanderization: Roseanne slowly got more bossy and controlling toward her family.
• Former Teen Rebel: Roseanne was quite the rebel as a teen. And this is the reason why she can outsmart her children when any of them pull the same stunts she did.
• Freudian Excuse: Roseanne's anger and control issues are the result of growing up with an abusive father. The show also implied this might be the source of her compulsive overeating.
• Good is Not Nice: She's bossy, loud, caustic, domineering, and sarcastic as anything... but still a decent person and loving mother. See Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: With Jackie. Even as adults, Jackie is attractive but flaky while Roseanne is homely but down to earth.
• High-School Sweethearts: She and Dan have been together since they were a high school couple.
• Housewife: Though Roseanne often described herself as a housewife, and did do the majority of the actual housework, she was never a stay-at-home mom. In fact, she worked more consistently than her nominal "breadwinner" husband.
• Hypocrite:
  • Tends to denigrate Dan for being so obese, but she's almost just as obese as he is, being only slightly smaller than him though that could be since she's not as tall.
  • She open and accepting to all those who are LGBT+ and doesn't mind if one of her children were to come out as LGBT+. However, the series finale of the original series revealed that the 'real' Roseanne never accepted that Jackie was gay and preferred her with a man.
• Hypocrisy Nod: Roseanne claims to be okay with the LGBT+ community all the while voicing her own uncomfortableness and homophobic rants towards Nancy being a bisexual, Nancy's girlfriend coming on to her in a Very Special Episode, and her sister Jackie being gay in the real world of the original ending. She admits how hypocritical she sounds and that she was working on it.
  • The racism episode of the original series, when DJ doesn't want to kiss Geena, also has Roseanne acknowledge by the ending (where she locked a black man out of the restaurant) that she may have some prejudices of her own and is not entirely happy about that.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She is abrasive and bossy but she is a loving mother overall who really puts them first above all else.
• Mama Bear: To her children, her sister, her daughter's boyfriends who she eventually all but adopts. Basically, if Roseanne considers you family or a loved one, she will unleash full fury on anyone who's wronged you.
• Never My Fault: She had a tendency to try and deflect blame any time something backfired on her, often using Insane Troll Logic to get there.
• Parental Favoritism: Even though Roseanne really does love all her children, she would show the most open love to DJ when he was a kid.
• Parental Hypocrisy: Roseanne will get angry at her children for doing the exact same things she did in her youth. For example, she grounds Darlene from going off to college because she tried drugs...even though Roseanne, herself, did drugs as well.
• Progressively Prettier: Roseanne was never straight-up ugly, but she was very overweight and as a hard-working blue collar Midwestern woman, personal appearance was fairly low on her list of priorities. However, as the seasons wore on, Roseanne the actress began to wear much more flattering hair and makeup, lost a bunch of weight, and combined with her real life surgeries, her looks definitely improved. You can see it in action in the opening credits of later seasons, where Roseanne's face slowly morphs through her changing looks.
• Protagonist Title: She's the eponymous protagonist of Roseanne.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: As noted on the The Conners Series page, the character was killed off due to the actor proving just as troublesome to ABC brass as she'd been in The '90s.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Averted in the revival, seeing as she was always abrasive, rude, and willing to speak her mind in the original series. All that's changed is that some of the issues she complains about now involve her age.
• Shipper on Deck: The final episode revealed that Becky and Darlene were actually with David and Mark, respectively. Roseanne switched them around because she thought they would be more interesting. This was retconned at the start of the revival, though.
• Stepford Snarker: When dealing with stressful situations, Roseanne will make sarcastic quips in order to deal with it.
• Teen Pregnancy: She was pregnant with Becky when she was 18.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: While she was originally against physically punishing her kids in the revival (set about twenty years after the original run) in response to Harris being a giant brat, Roseanne dunks her head in the sink and sprays her with water.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: Parodied in one of the clip shows, with Michael Fishman cross-cast as a younger Roseanne.
• Unreliable Narrator: In the ninth season, and increasingly so as the revival retcons things like Dan's death and Harris' age (and by extension Darlene's when she had her).

Dan Conner

Dan Conner

Played By: John Goodman

Appearances: Roseanne | The Conners

Dan Conner is the husband of Roseanne (and later, Louise) as well as the father of Becky, Darlene, DJ, and Jerry. In the beginning of the series, Dan is an easygoing drywall contractor, but he takes up a variety of jobs (interspersed with period of unemployment) to keep the family afloat. Many years later, Dan remarries after Roseanne’s demise and he finally retires his drywall business albeit reluctantly after coming to terms with the fact that he’s gotten too old for the job. He instead becomes the co-owner of a hardware store with Darlene’s second husband, Ben Olinsky.

---

• All Bikers are Hells Angels: A pretty noticeable aversion. Dan is a nice guy who works an honest nine-to-five job but loves the Harley he's had since high school and was so big into biker culture that he actually owned and ran a shop repairing and selling restored classic bikes.
  Mark: (Seeing Dan's Harley for the first time) Nice bike. Ever think about selling it?
  Dan: Actually, I was planning on being buried with it.
• Anyone Can Die: Subverted. The original series finale which reveals that the ninth season and several other plot details were fabricated for a book Roseanne was writing, one of the revelations includes the fact that Dan didn’t survive his heart attack. In the revival season, it turns out that his demise was also part of the book and that Dan did indeed survive.
• Berserk Button: Messing with his Harley motorcycle in any way makes him quite pissed off.
• Best Friends-in-Law: He has a relationship something like this with his sister-in-law Jackie, even though it's very clear that she also annoys the hell out of him. They've known each other since high school - in one episode he's able to explicitly describe their first meeting, even remembering what she was wearing at the time - and thus know each other extremely well. He also did not take it lying down when he learned that one of her boyfriends was physically abusing her.
  • In The Conners, despite the person who linked them together (Roseanne) now being dead, Jackie is still just as much a part of the family as she was before and Dan never attempts to distance himself or sever ties (though she still continues to annoy him to no end).
• Beware the Nice Ones: Compared to Roseanne, Dan is typically much more laid-back and easy to get along with, and generally lets Roseanne run things. But when he gets angry, everyone listens, Roseanne included (though she can talk him down sometimes).
  • To wit, when he found out that Fisher had been abusing Jackie, Dan went over and beat the shit out of him. He also has punched holes in the wall and wailed on a sheet of drywall with a hammer when pissed off.
• Big Beautiful Man: In his younger years, Dan was a beefy guy who was also quite the Chick Magnet. He’s substantially slimmer as a senior citizen.
• Big Brother Instinct: Do not abuse Jackie. He may be less dangerous than Roseanne, but he's not a threat to be taken lightly.
  • He may actually be more. Roseanne will just kill you, Dan will hurt you. Repeatedly.
• The Big Guy: Dan is well over six feet and weighed almost 400 pounds at his heaviest. He has the requisite muscle and stamina to go with it, and can be seen handling a full-sized Harley as if it's a bicycle.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Deconstructed. Dan is resentful of his father for always being away for work when he was growing up, leaving him and his mother all alone. This is something that Dan repeatedly brings up when he's with Ed, especially when they have an argument. However, Ed has apologized time and time again for the mistakes he made with Dan, but is tired of doing it because his son will never let him forget it.
• Chick Magnet: Dan tends to attract women who explicitly gush about how handsome and sexy he is in addition to being such a nice guy. To say Roseanne is unhappy with this would be an understatement.
• Dark and Troubled Past: For most of his life, Dan's mother was mentally unstable and he had an overtly hostile relationship with his father, who he believed had neglected her to the point where she simply went over the edge. His father took all of the blame Dan placed on him so he wouldn't think less of his mother, who was simply beyond help.
• Dented Iron: Over time, age has certainly taken its toll on him as he can no longer handle the workload that comes with his drywall business.
• Deuteragonist: Throughout all of Roseanne. As a result of Rosie's demise, he takes her place as the lead in The Conners.
• Everyone Has Standards: While he is by no means a fan of his mother in law, Bev, when Jackie was cruely denying her the opportunity to spend time with her son, Andy, Dan stuck up for her. He states the obvious benefit of her looking after Andy, as she's looked after the Conner kids numerous times. When she states that Roseanne hates her too, Dan brought that she still wouldn't keep her away from the family. Dan asked her if she honestly believe Bev would hurt her child, to which Jackie can only reply with a weak response. Dan might not like Bev, but he will defend her.
• Former Teen Rebel: Like Roseanne, Dan was quite the troublemaker in his youth, but now is a devoted family man.
• Henpecked Husband: Usually Played for Laughs. Dan's known to squeak out a meek "yes, dear" in the face of Roseanne's venting, but he's not afraid to stand up to her or support her when things are serious.
• High-School Sweethearts: He and Roseanne have been together since they were a high school couple.
• Iconic Outfit: Usually (though not always) wears his trademark flannel or chambray button-up shirts ^note Depending on a episode and some worn denim jeans.
  • Sometimes he might wear a tan coat and occasionally a flat cap.
• My Greatest Failure: The failure of his bike shop hit his spirits pretty hard, especially once Becky accused him of costing her all she had in what proved to be a bad investment. Once Becky elopes with Mark, Dan becomes especially protective of Darlene in the hopes that she won't make the same mistake.
• Nice Guy: Dan may mock his family members but it's in a loving way. Dan really is a laid-back, funny, easygoing, sweetheart of a guy.
• Noble Bigot:
  • Is generally a good guy, but whenever there was a slight hint that DJ might be gay (such as wanting to be a witch for Halloween), Dan didn't take it well. In an early episode, Becky and Darlene find boxes of dolls under DJ's bed. Dan starts worrying that DJ is playing with dolls, but ends up relieved when he realizes he's dismembering them.
  • He seems genuinely upset and uncomfortable to realize his possible bigotry when he sides with DJ over not wanting to kiss a black girl in the school play.
  • Possibly subverted now, in the revival; in the episode "Dress to Impress," when Darlene begins to question whether Dan has a problem with Mark, his grandson, wearing female clothes, Dan proudly states that he has nothing against it and more of scared how others will think of him. Hell, one of his granddaughters is bi-racial, yet it's clear both he and Roseanne love her deeply.
  Dan: God did not give me a big head to be narrow-minded.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When he gets really angry, even Roseanne walks on eggshells.
• Only Sane Man: Compared to the rest of the family, Dan rarely gets involved in petty drama and most of his issues are more grounded and down-to-earth, rather than domestic power-struggles. He's been known to walk in, take one look, and walk right back out again.
• Papa Wolf: Dan is a down-to-earth, laid back, all-around nice guy, until you harm, threaten to harm, or screw over his loved ones. Once that happens, run. Just... run. One memorable episode has Dan going to beat up Becky's boss after he insults her. Too bad Mark gets there first.
• Parental Favoritism: Out of all of his kids, Dan is the closest to Darlene, even saying he expects more from her than he does from Becky.
• Parental Hypocrisy: Like Roseanne, Dan will scold his children for doing the exact same things he did in his youth. For example, in one episode he is angry at Becky for underage drinking, but a later episode revealed he also did underage drinking.
• Parental Neglect: Dan's mother was (literally) insane, and his father was a traveling salesman who was rarely home.
• Silent Treatment: Does this on at least two occasions, both directed at Becky, and both times when she's done something to piss him off beyond belief. (The first time was when she and Mark took his beloved motorcycle out for a ride, and Mark "fixed" it because it was too loud - despite the fact that Dan liked it being loud. The second time occurred when Becky eloped with Mark right when Dan lost the bike shop.)
• Tranquil Fury: If Dan's hollering and yelling, he's just blowing off steam. But when he gets quiet, run.

Becky Conner

Becky Conner

Played By: Lecy Goranson (Seasons 1-5, most of Season 8, Season 10 and The Conners), Sarah Chalke (Seasons 6-7, certain episodes of Season 8 and all of Season 9)

Appearances: Roseanne | The Conners

Born March 15, 1975, Becky, the oldest of Roseanne and Dan's kids, is quite bright and an overachiever, and tends to be the more conventional of the Conner children, but is also somewhat quick-tempered and sometimes angry with her parents and younger sister Darlene.

---

• The Alcoholic: Has become one by the time of Season 10 and The Conners. She starts to realize this when begins working for Dan's construction company in the latter series — Dan chews her out for bringing vodka to their construction site, and she realizes she's gotten to a point where she can't go one day without drinking. Her father gives her six weeks to get over the habit, or she's fired (he ends up firing her anyway due to her pregnancy). Then after she becomes pregnant, she catches herself about to drink an alcoholic beverage and reacts in horror, tearfully confessing to Darlene that she's become a drunk.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: The basis for her relationship with Mark is his rebellious nature.
• Big Sister Bully: Downplayed. While she is a jerk to her younger siblings, especially to Darlene, she is also equally aloof and matures into being less of a bully as a grown up.
• Book Smart: She's introduced as a Go-Getter Girl who is very good academically, though she eventually decides to get married before finishing High School.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: In the early seasons, she was the classic bratty teenage daughter that wanted everything her way.
• Break the Haughty:
  • Early in the series, she gets good grades and, when she's not being the Bratty Teenage Daughter, does most of the chores and takes care of her younger siblings. She believes she's on track to go to college and get out of Lanford, until the bike shop runs into trouble. Through a series of bad choices (based as much on her attitude and rebellion against her family as circumstances), she ends up living in a trailer park and working at Buns, a Hooters-style restaurant.
  • Becky got a more immediate example of it in the season two opener, "Inherit the Wind," in which she hides out at home after accidentally breaking wind during her speech to the student council. Darlene in particular rubs salt into Becky's wounds, crowing, "I've been waiting for something like this to happen since I was two!" Becky kind of deserved it after having been such a Jerkass to Darlene at the beginning of the episode for no reason (and without provocation).
• Breakout Character: Lecy Goranson’s portrayal of Becky on The Conners has received near unanimous praise from fans and television critics.
• Character Development: She eventually grew out of her bratty martyr tendencies to become a genuinely helpful person. One of the most telling signs was her moving into a trailer with Mark, a purposely hard road-not so she could complain, but for the sake of starting a life outside her parents' home. Later, she decided to go back to college and continue the education she'd missed out on after marrying Mark.
• Dating What Daddy Hates: And mommy, too. And not only did Becky date the "punk" neither Roseanne nor Dan cared for, she also married him.
• Depending on the Writer: Or in this case, depending on the actress. Lecy Goranson's Becky is more abrasive but also smarter. Sarah Chalke's Becky is sweeter but also more naive and ditzy.
• Drowning My Sorrows: As of The Conners, it's established that Becky's drinking problem stems from losing Mark.
• The Dutiful Daughter: When Darlene seemed to slip into a depression during her tomboy-to-emo transition, it fell on Becky to pick up the slack. For a while, she ended up doing the majority of the chores without getting any recognition for it, and it only got worse when she saw Roseanne give Darlene money for clothes to try and snap her out of it.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Zigzagged. In a way she's the Responsible (smart and popular Go-Getter Girl) to Darlene's Foolish (tomboyish and antisocial underachiever). However, Becky went through a really bratty period and Darlene becomes less irresponsible in later years.
• Future Loser: In Season One, Becky was a smart and responsible girl who had a bright future ahead of her. But in Season 10, she's a washed-up party girl who is stuck in a low-paying waitress job, and has been reducing to selling her eggs (by committing fraud and lying about her age) to pay off credit card debt. Out of the Conner kids, Becky ended up with the most disappointing lot in life.
• Go-Getter Girl: An academic overachiever, in contrast to her sister Darlene.
• The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: With Darlene. Becky was the popular Girly Girl, who was keen on overreacting about small things. Darlene was the snarky Tomboy, who grew up to be an artistic Goth as a teenager. Becky was believed to also be the smart sister, as she would get better grades in school than Darlene. But in the end, Becky decided to get married before finishing high school, so Darlene was the first one in the family to go to college.
• Happily Married: To Mark, despite all their issues. The finale reveals that she was actually married to David; Roseanne switched her and Darlene's spouses in her book because she thought those couples were a better match. The revival season restored the original couple, but also revealed that Mark died young, leaving Becky a widow.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: She enjoyed dating boys.
• Hypocrite: Sometimes. She accused Darlene of being selfish or stuck-up, but she had her own moments of this as well.
• It's All About Me: Her bratty tendencies put her in this territory. To emphasize, her response to her family hitting financial times yet again isn't to be sympathetic or supportive, but to get angry that there wasn't enough money for her to go to college or for her boyfriend to keep his job.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She can be bratty and stubborn but she is technically the "good girl". She does love her family deeply. She also tries everything to make her marriage to Mark work while also taking her life more seriously.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: In season 10 of Roseanne, her plans to make some money by acting as a surrogate fall through when the doctor tells Becky that her chances of getting pregnant at her age are very low. Come The Conners, she gets pregnant on accident after having unprotected sex with the busboy at her job.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Becky, of all people, becomes this in season 10 of Roseanne carrying over to The Conners.
• Really Gets Around: A virginal example earlier on in Roseanne's original run - she did bounce around from boy-to-boy (at one point, even leaving a very awkward dinner with her and her boyfriend's parents to go sneak out with another boy from school) up until she met Mark. After that, aside from a very brief breakup, and some flirting with David, she and Mark were together up until he died. She's possibly back to this as of The Conners. At the very least, she's having sex with both her manager and another co-worker at her job.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Gives one to Darlene accusing her of milking her depression. She was harsher than she needed to be, but it did convince Darlene to get off the couch and do something.
  • She also gives one to Dan when his bike shop business fails, claiming that it's Dan's lack of business skill that bankrupted the family, costing her both college and Mark (who was leaving Lanford to take a better job).
• Secret-Keeper: Darlene confided in Becky about when David was secretly living with her.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Subverted. In Season 10, Becky has not changed too much but that is also a problem. She is as immature about dealing with her situations as she has always been but due to her stress of her adult life, she appears to be even more stubborn than when she was younger.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Darlene's Tomboy.

Darlene Conner

Darlene Conner

Played By: Sara Gilbert

Appearances: Roseanne | The Conners

Born in 1977, Darlene in the early seasons is a tomboy who loves sports and has trouble in school, but during high school she becomes moody, artistic, an animal rights activist, and a vegetarian. In The Conners, Darlene begins to take the mantle of family matriarch after Roseanne’s demise.

---

• Annoying Younger Sibling: She would take any chance to annoy Becky.
• Basement-Dweller: Due to financial hardship, she gets forced to move back in with her parents' house and live off their support even as a mother of two children. Unable to feed her own children, her parents feed their grandchildren.
• Big Sister Bully: Frequently insulted and physically roughed up DJ, especially in early seasons.
• Book Dumb: In her early years. She became progressively more invested in her studies as the years went on. Later in high school, her poor grades were more a result of disrespect and skipping classes than lack of work quality; however, she was nonetheless accepted early into a Fine Arts college in Chicago.
• Brainy Brunette: She is eventually revealed to be poetic, smart, and a talented artist. Interestingly, her sister Becky got better grades in the early seasons, and while she never lost that intelligence, she did end up having to put her education on hold when she eloped with Mark.
• Break the Haughty: Went through some of this in seasons 7 and 8, especially 7.
• Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Darlene and David break up, get back together, get married, break up again in the revival season, and divorce in The Conners.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: In high school, the only reason behind her poor grades were from a lack of interest. And yet, she's intelligent, poetic, and was accepted into a Fine Arts college early.
• Character Development: In the first seasons, Darlene was a sports-obsessed tomboy who always had her hair tied back into a tight braid to give a boyish appearance. But the moment she started going through puberty she let her hair down, started avoiding sports all together, and abandoned all of her friends to become a Deadpan Snarker.
• Daddy's Girl: Darlene was closer to Dan than Becky was.
• Deadpan Snarker: After puberty, Darlene exhibits a sardonic humor similar to her mother's.
• Deuteragonist: Of The Conners.
• Domestic Abuse: During the early stages of her and David's romantic relationship, Darlene could be emotionally controlling and even downright cruel to him. After they break-up, she eventually realizes how much of a jerk she was and that she wants to be with him.
• Emo Teen: Seen as this by her family during the bulk of season 4.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling:
  • Zigzagged. In a way she's the Foolish (tomboyish and antisocial underachiever) to Becky's Responsible (smart and popular Go-Getter Girl). However Becky went through a really bratty period and Darlene becomes less irresponsible in later years.
  • Inverted in the revival. Partly due to Darlene having children of her own, the revival sees her prioritizing helping her parents and trying to down a job for the sake of her kids. Meanwhile, Becky drinks and goofs around when she does get work.
• Generation Xerox: It's an unstated theme of the show's dynamic that the reason Darlene and Roseanne clash is because Darlene is the child who is most like her mother. She definitely inherited her mother's strong will and sarcasm (not to mention she does a spot-on impression of Roseanne yelling). In The Conners, Darlene realizes that with Roseanne gone, she's inherited her mother's role of holding the family together.
• Girliness Upgrade: In the first three seasons, Darlene was a tomboy. Then she becomes a depressed Goth chick, wearing black and outright declaring her hatred of all things girly (to the point where Roseanne and Dan deliberately tease her by pretending to set up a stereotypical sweet sixteen party for her). After falling in love with David, she becomes slightly more feminine, though she never loses her love of flannels and jeans.
  • By The Conners, the hair is cut shorter, the flannels are buttoned down and characters make jokes about her looking like a boy, so any upgrade has been undone.
• The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: With Becky. Becky was the popular Girly Girl, who was keen on overreacting about small things. Darlene was the snarky Tomboy, who grew up to be an artistic Goth as a teenager. Becky was believed to also be the smart sister, as she would get better grades in school than Darlene. But in the end, Becky decided to get married before finishing high school, so Darlene was the first one in the family to go to college.
• Good Parents: She definitely suffers from Parents as People, but it's never in question that she loves Harris and Mark and only wants what's best for them. She also is a good aunt to her two nieces, Mary and Beverly Rose.
• Happily Married: To David. In the original series finale, she was married to Mark in 'reality', while Becky married David; Roseanne switched the couples in 'her book' because she thought that David was better suited to Darlene, and Mark to Becky. In the revival, this supposed reality was ignored and she was indeed married to David. Keyword being "was" as they separated. They officially divorce in The Conners.
• Hollywood Atheist: She is an open atheist in The Conners, consistent with her questioning stance as a teen in Roseanne. This occasionally leads to friction with her devoutly religious sister-in-law Geena.
• Ice Queen: She enjoys killing other people's self-esteem and make them feel immoral or underachieving. She also makes unnecessary comments back and forth about her own family, especially Becky.
• Jerkass Realization: Darlene went through this over the course of a few episodes after her break-up with David. She realized she felt closer to David than anyone and how much she hurt him by dumping him, as well as how badly she treated him. It didn't help that her new boyfriend dumped her for treating him the way she treated David.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She can be just as bossy as her mother (especially with David), but she would never do anything genuinely malicious to any of her family, though she would often stand her ground when pushed and her air of indifference could sometimes be mistaken for callousness.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: In "The Conners", after trying for a baby with Ben and having no luck and seeing him being friendly with Becky and help her with her baby, Darlene lashes out at them due to jealously. After calming down, she reveals to Ben that the reason she was angry was because she went to the doctor and was revealed to have scarring meaning it would be little chance for her to have a baby with Ben. Ben assures her that if Becky could get pregnant after being stood her chances were impossible Darlene could too.
• Love Revelation Epiphany: After David made a move on her (the classic arm around the shoulder move), Darlene is initially unsure on if she wants a romance with him. After getting advice from both Dan and Becky, Darlene has an honest conversation with David about their relationship, ending with their first kiss.
• Loser Protagonist: Can't find a job despite the fact she has a son and daughter to feed and still has to get support from her parents in her 40s.
• Mama Bear: Is fiercely protective of her kids, especially Mark.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: The Masculine Girl (harsh and rude) to David's Feminine Boy (softspoken and sweet).
• Middle Child Syndrome: She was overshadowed by both her siblings: beautiful and smart Becky, and DJ who was both the baby and the only boy. This largely led to her gothic and cynical demeanor. What subverts this trope, however, is that of the three Conner children, she was the most popular with viewers and had ample screentime as a result.
• No Periods, Period: Averted. Darlene Conner may be the only woman in television history whose menarche (first period) and menopause (last period) have both been depicted onscreen:
  • Darlene's menarche hits her at the early age of 11 in season 1 of Roseanne (apparently a family trait, as Roseanne claims she was 11 too, though she was more... developed at 11 than Darlene was).
  • In season 3 of The Conners, 32 years later, the 43-year-old Darlene believes herself pregnant (as she had been trying with her boyfriend Ben) after missing her period... but instead finds out she's entered pre-menopause.
• Soapbox Sadie: In later years, she becomes artistic, an animal rights activist, and a vegetarian.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Becky's Girly Girl.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Much like her mother, she slowly becomes more cruel and mean-spirited in later seasons. She mellows out later in season 8, though.
  • Unfortunately as The Conners progresses she seems to become progressively harsher and more bitter, now angry with herself for her failed life as well as everyone else around her.
• Took a Level in Kindness: While she is still not the most mature in Season 10, she seems to have gotten better (not as good as DJ, but better than Becky). As a mom, the fact that she is very loving and supportive towards Harris and Mark speaks volumes for someone who once didn't want children at all.
• Troubled Teen: Subverted. Many episodes show her becoming withdrawn from her family, dressing in dark clothes and adopting a Snark Knight personality. It's all but said that she's dealing with depression, but as a lower-income family, they don't have the resources to help Darlene manage with it. As time goes on we see that she's actually spending time embracing her artistic and intellectual sides, becoming the first member of her family to go to college.
• What the Hell, Hero?: To push her vegetarian views on her family, she launches a smear campaign on the Lunch Box by painting a chalk outline of cows outside of the restaurant complete with blood smears. Her mother, of course, calls her out on the fact she's effectively trying to sabotage the family business.
  • Years later in Conners S3 she'd hold the Idiot Ball two episodes in a row, wrecking a rental car and almost wrecking her son's chance to get into a selective magnet high school within about a week of in-series time.

David Jacob "DJ" Conner

David Jacob "DJ" Conner

Played By: Sal Barone (pilot) and Michael Fishman (both series)

Appearances: Roseanne | The Conners

Born in 1981, DJ is the youngest Conner child, for the majority of the series, until Roseanne gives birth to Jerry in season 7. He is frequently taunted by his sisters and peers. He grew up, served in the military, got married and had a daughter in the 20 years between seasons 9 and 10.

---

• Advertised Extra: He was pretty much the epitome of this trope in the revival years, given that he was prominently featured in all the marketing and promos for the revival season and sequel spin-off, when in truth, his role was egregiously small. His actor, Michael Fishman, was eventually fired as a result of this.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: DJ always annoys his sisters and enjoys doing so, especially to Darlene.
• The Artifact: DJ has no importance to the story during the revival years. His continued presence was justified by being a legacy character and immediate member of the central family, but he was eventually written out.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: In one of the revival episodes, he helps Dan work on a motorcycle, much to Dan's surprise. He explains that he's spent most of his life watching Dan do this kind of work and thus picked up a lot of knowledge.
• Batman Gambit: Early in the show there were times that Dan worried DJ might be effeminate. Once David (and Mark) came around, there were multiple times when DJ would seemingly play for sympathy, asking David if it was okay for a guy to be (something not traditionally 'masculine'), which would always get a supportive reaction from David, only to have it revealed that it was all a trick to make David look weak.
• Bratty Teenage Son: During the later part of the series, DJ started becoming rather spoiled and self centered, an example being when Roseanne told him to kiss Geena for the school play, which he didn’t want to because she was a black girl.
• Character Development: DJ was definitely the most childlike and immature of the kids for most of the series. However, he started to mature in Season 9. By Season 10, he actually turned out the best in terms of maturity. He has grown to be very much like his dad in being a reasonable, friendly, laid-back person and loving father to his daughter, Mary. It also helps that when he was a kid, he would not kiss what would become his future wife and mother of his daughter because of the color of her skin. DJ is also the most financially successful of the kids, living out on his own with no money problems - which for a Conner is saying a lot.
• Children Are Innocent: Roseanne says DJ is her favorite because of this. He has caused problems in school like his sisters, but he is a very innocent child.
• Cloudcuckoolander: At times. He seemed to love Darlene's spaghetti-with-Thousand-Island-dressing concoction, though Becky pointed out why that didn't really matter:
  Darlene: DJ loved it!
  Becky: DJ eats hair!
• Creepy Child: D.J. "Barbie Killer" Conner. He also sold off animals for experimentation.
• Deadpan Snarker: In later seasons, DJ grows a dry sense of humor.
• Demoted to Extra: In The Conners, he was lucky to appear in every other episode and seldom got more than a Mandatory Line when he does, especially after season one. Michael Fishman (who had retired from acting after Roseanne's original run ended) seemed to take this in stride and was just happy to be a part of the show, often serving as an "ambassador" with the fans online up until his termination from the series. However, if one were to pay close enough attention, he tended to react on posts where fans openly complained about DJ's lack of screentime.
• Dumbass Has a Point: While he wasn't a dumbass, D.J. was strange bordering on creepy (and not the brightest bulb in the box). When they were getting the diner off the ground, they were agonizing over the name. D.J. mentioned he felt left out since everybody else was getting to do things. Roseanne says it's his diner, too, and he'll get to help. He automatically shouts out that he gets to name it. Everybody panics slightly (as, according to Darlene, D.J. once named a goldfish "Fluffy"), but when he says "The Lunchbox," everybody agrees that it's absolutely perfect.
• The Dutiful Son: Showed shades of this now and then. When Darlene and Becky are constantly fighting during a baby shower, Roseanne is sick of playing referee, so she leaves it to D.J. He immediately calls them on their crap and tells them to knock it off. He's also openly supportive of Roseanne in "Maybe Baby" when she needs it most.
• Epic Fail: If Darlene is to be believed, he once named a goldfish "Fluffy."
• Generation Xerox: As an adult, he's very much like Dan. Physically, his actor, Michael Fishman, could easily be mistaken for Roseanne Barr's actual son.
• Happily Married: Of all people, as The Conners begins, DJ is the only member of the extended Conner-Harris clan who is in a happy marriage, or even a successful relationship. Dan and Becky are widowed and unattached as the series begins; Jackie is either divorced or never married and in a string of unfulfilling relationships; Darlene is still technically married to David but they're also separated and estranged.
• Henpecked Husband: Seems to be this to Geena in The Conners thus far.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: Once he discovered girls, he was constantly on the prowl for booty.
• Momma's Boy: Roseanne mentions in season four's "The Back Story" that her favorite child is D.J.
• The Movie Buff: As a teenager in Season 9, DJ becomes a serious film buff and dreams of making his own movies.
• Nice Guy: As a kid he was lovable and innocent, but he could still easily annoy his sisters and mouth off on occasion. As he became an adult in Season 10, however, he became a perfectly normal, down-to-earth, nice person; he's a loving husband and a very good father to his daughter, Mary. He has apparently turned out the best of the Conner siblings in terms of moral ground and maturity.
• Noodle Incident: Tying in to his Creepy Child status. Becky comes down and complains about his hair clogging the drain in their bathroom.
  DJ: It's not my hair.
  Darlene: Then whose is it?
  DJ: Don't worry, it's dead. (Walks off.)
• Only Known by Their Nickname: He's only called DJ most of the time, which led many viewers in early seasons to assume that his name was Dan Junior. You can count on one hand the number of times he's actually called "David Jacob" by anyone.
• Out of Focus: In the revival and The Conners.
  • He was this during quite a bit of the original run as well. Since Roseanne and Dan were frequently exhausted from their round-the-clock efforts to keep the family afloat and what little time they could spare was often taken up by Becky and Darlene's teenage drama, DJ had an unfortunate tendency to be kinda forgotten about and overlooked because he was much more stable in that regards and mostly kept to himself. When he revealed in one episode he had gone days without speaking a single word and nobody noticed, Dan and Roseanne were horrified... only for the episode to reveal they had done it again, having him spend hours in a cabinet because they forgot they were supposed to be playing Hide-And-Seek with him.
• Papa Wolf: He becomes this for his own daughter Mary to ensure what is best for her.
• Put on a Bus: After four seasons of being a glorified extra, DJ was finally written out of The Conners in its fifth season.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Implied in the revival, as it is revealed that he's seeing a therapist.
• Turn to Religion: At one point as a child, started attending church (mostly for something to do) and then began lecturing his family on their failings, such as David and Darlene's premarital sex or his mother stealing stoves.
• White Sheep: DJ is the most successful of the three Conner children both in his relationship and professionally.

Marjorie "Jackie" Harris

Marjorie "Jackie" Harris

Played By: Laurie Metcalf

Appearances: Roseanne | The Conners

Jackie is Roseanne's younger sister by three years (born in 1956). She goes from moderately to extremely neurotic, depending on the season, and bounces through a series of bad jobs and even worse relationships.

---

• Best Friends-in-Law: She has a relationship something like this with her brother-in-law Dan, even though it's very clear that she also annoys the hell out of him. They've known each other since high school - in one episode he's able to explicitly describe their first meeting, even remembering what she was wearing at the time - and thus know each other extremely well. He also did not take it lying down when he learned that one of her boyfriends was physically abusing her.
  • In The Conners, despite the person who linked them together (Roseanne) now being dead, Jackie is still just as much a part of the family as she was before and Dan never attempts to distance himself or sever ties (though she still continues to annoy him to no end).
• Beware the Nice Ones: Is overall a nice lady, but she's also a former police officer and is still in good physical condition into her sixties.
• Break the Cutie: Grew up in an abusive household, constantly hounded and browbeat by her overbearing (s)mother well into her thirties, has trouble finding a successful career despite her ambitions, loses several good boyfriends for various reasons (one left when she refused to quit the police force), gets badly beaten by one of them, and has another sue for custody while still pregnant (though that was resolved when she promised to stop shutting him out of the child's life). Maybe her Flanderization-induced wackiness in later seasons isn't so farfetched.
• Butch Lesbian: She was outed as one in the series finale of Roseanne. It was retconned in the 2018 revival.
• The Chew Toy: Poor Jackie has some of the worst luck of anyone on the show. Later, she turns the luck around on her baby's father Fred, making him next chew toy.
• Commitment Issues: Jackie's recurring problem in many of her relationships is that she doesn't commit for some reason.
• Daddy's Girl: Deconstructed. Between her and Roseanne, Jackie was closer to their father, even though he was physically abusive to both of them. Her attachment towards her father causes her to downplay a lot of bad things he did to them and their mother.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Jackie's father was physically abusive to his daughters.
• Drop-In Character: Jackie is always in the Conner house. She is either eating their food or doing her laundry. Lampshaded in The Conners, where it's revealed that she was always around because the now-deceased Roseanne wanted her around.
• Drowning My Sorrows: After discovering her boyfriend Peter's unfaithfulness to her and subsequently breaking up with him, she gets absolutely hammered and goes back to the site of the old Lunchbox, pretending she still works there and serving people while drunk.
• Dude Magnet: Many men have hit on her and she has been noted to really get around.
• Flanderization: Jackie becomes more neurotic and quirky over the years. Season 10 and The Conners take this way past eleven.
• Faux Yay: In "The Conners". Nothing sexual happened in her "throuple" relationship with Ron and Janelle but Jackie stayed in a relationship with them due to being lavished with gifts and spa trips.
• Former Teen Rebel: Pulled the same irresponsible stuff as a teen Roseanne did when they were teens.
• Freudian Excuse: Her father's aforementioned abuse is heavily implied to be responsible for her promiscuity and inability to have a successful relationship. It goes from being implied to outright stated after her ordeal with Fisher and her inability to let Fred get close.
• The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: With Roseanne. Even as adults, Jackie is attractive but flaky while Roseanne is homely but down to earth.
• Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Averted. In The Conners, it's revealed Jackie had an abortion when she was Harris ' age.
• Hates Their Parent: While Roseanne and Jackie have each expressed their hatred for their mother, Jackie is the most venomous of the two since Bev always complains about how Jackie lives her life. On the other side Roseanne actually hates her father more because he used to beat them when they were kids.
• Heel Realization: The Conners actually explained why Jackie no longer works as a police officer. Dan, Ben, and Jackie are talking about her time in the police force, resulting in the revelation of why she quit. According to Jackie, watching promising kids like Mark turn to a life of crime put her off the work and forced her to retire. Hilariously, it transpires that she actually shot herself in the leg with her own gun and fell down a flight of stairs according to Dan’s account of events. Credit where it is due, Jackie manages to save some face by claiming that this accident was caused by her grief over seeing so many promising kids waste their potential.
• Hereditary Homosexuality: In the series finale of Roseanne, both Jackie and her mother Bev were revealed to be gay. Before the retcon.
• Irony: In the revival, Jackie is a life coach who doesn't exactly seem to have her life together. As such, Roseanne is quick to undercut her attempts to give advice.
• The Lancer: She is later described as being the backbone of the family by Roseanne.
• Large Ham: In later seasons. A high proportion of episodes from Season 9 consist solely of Jackie and Roseanne hamming it up - going to a day spa, hanging out with the girls from Absolutely Fabulous, and so on.
• Late Coming Out: In the original series finale of Roseanne, Jackie was revealed to have always been a lesbian. But this didn't come to light until the end of the show. By that the time, she was 41.
• Mama Bear: Becomes neurotically protective of her son, Andy. She also extends this to her nieces, nephew, and eventually their children.
• Mistaken for Gay: A Running Gag both in both Roseanne and The Conners due to her having a short haircut, her choice of wardrobe being flannel shirts and faded jeans and her being unable to keep a relationship with a man.
• Motivational Lie: While she's clearly not proud of it, in "The Conners", Jackie's lie of finding Becky's baby nearly suffocating because of her drunken blackout was essential for Becky to realize she has a nasty drinking problem.
• Never Mess with Granny: In the same scene mentioned directly above, a still drunk Becky attempts to snatch her keys from Jackie. Jackie, a former cop, immediately and coolly puts her into a restraint hold, and is only called off by Dan's intervention. Bear in mind that Becky is still in her forties, and Jackie is 65.
  Becky: That hurts!
  Jackie: That's why it works!
• Nice Girl: Jackie may be neurotic but she is a warm and loving person. She cares deeply for her family and wouldn't let anyone harm them.
• No Bisexuals: After many failed relationships with men, Jackie was outed as a lesbian in the closing moments of the (original) series finale of Roseanne. This has been retconned for the 2018 revival series.
• Old Shame: In-Universe. Jackie is deeply ashamed that she had a fling with Arnie.
• Old Maid: In season 1 of Roseanne, Jackie is mentioned by a worried Bev to being, at the time, "32 and unmarried".
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Her real name is Marjorie; she gained the name "Jackie" because toddler Roseanne kept mispronouncing "Marjorie" as "My Jackie" and their parents found it adorable. She's only ever referred to as "(Aunt) Jackie" in either series.
• Polyamory: Jackie experimented with this by being one half of a "thr-ouple" with Love Interests married couple Ron and Jenelle in The Conners.
• Really Gets Around: At one point, she estimates that she has slept with roughly 60 men.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Because actress Laurie Metcalf was pregnant with her child around filming season 5, her character Jackie had to become pregnant as well, leading to the debut of Jackie's son Andy.
• Shotgun Wedding: After she got pregnant and her son Andy was born, Jackie wed the father of her son Fred Oakland so that they could be a family. It didn't last.
• Small Name, Big Ego: A common thread among her many jobs was that she always tried to talk them up to make them sound a lot more important than they were. She tried to make it sound like she was the star of a high school play when all she did was raise the curtain. While she really was injured in the line of duty as a police officer, she always tried to talk it up as though she took a bullet saving a baby carriage, when in reality she pulled her back after she tackled some fat naked guy and they both fell down the stairs.
• Straight Gay: Jackie was revealed to being this in the original series finale by Roseanne. Retconned in the revival series.
• Struggling Single Mother: Zigzagged. After her divorce, she becomes a successful single mother, dedicating herself to her son, so she's not entirely struggling (especially because she has Roseanne and her family to fall back on). She did, however, have a hard time with all of the responsibilities of being a parent when she demanded full custody, and complained on multiple occasions that it was difficult to sacrifice everything for the baby while Fred, the father, got to do what he wanted; it didn't help that she was too proud to change the custody arrangement.
• You Are What You Hate: Since she was a Daddy's Girl to an abusive father, she often claims that Bev was just as guilty for his abuse, if not worse, because she could have stopped him but didn't. However, when Jackie ends up getting physically assaulted by her boyfriend Fisher on multiple occasions, she makes excuses for him and says he's not doing anything wrong—which is just what Bev did when she and Roseanne were children.

Jerry Garcia Conner

Jerry Garcia Conner

Played By:' Morgan Roberts

Appearances: Roseanne

Roseanne and Dan's youngest child, (born in 1997) and he debuted early in the 8th Season.

---

• Adapted Out: He hasn't been cast and barely mentioned in the Revival.
• Babies Make Everything Better: Jerry's conception presented a struggle for Roseanne and Dan, who previously never experienced fertility issues.
• The Cutie: Just try looking at this baby and not wanting to pinch those adorable cheeks if his.
• Deliberately Cute Child: Jerry is an astonishingly cherubic child with blond curls, big blue eyes, and pudgy cheeks. He also almost seemed to be aware that he was on camera and sometimes "ad-libbed" his own comedic moments. For example, halfway through a scene where Roseanne was supposed to be feeding him, he stole the spoon and began feeding her instead.
• Named After Someone Famous: Jerry was named after musician Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, who had a fatal heart attack during Roseanne's pregnancy and of whom she and Dan were fans.
• Put on a Bus: Is only mentioned once in the final Season 10. He is stated to be working at an industrial fishery in Alaska, so he is unable to see his family in person that often.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Jerry is visibly absent in The Conners. In the 2018 revival, Jerry is mentioned by Roseanne that he is a on a fishing boat in Alaska. Photographs of him can be seen in the lounge room. After Roseanne's demise, however there has been no mention of his whereabouts, and he appears to have been retconned out of existence — various characters have since mentioned that there are only three Conner children.

Later Generation

Harris Conner-Healy

Harris Conner-Healy

Played By: Emma Kenney

Appearances: Roseanne | The Conners

Darlene and David's daughter. First appearing as a newborn in the original series, the family united around Baby Harris when she was born with a life-threatening condition (although this might have been lost in the retcon). In the reboot, she's a typical snarky, self-absorbed, sullen teen who appears to be taking after her mother.

---

• Babies Ever After: Born in the last couple of episodes of Roseanne's final season, Harris is one of three babies born or announced before the finale.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: The third episode of season 10 focuses on this. Darlene's Extreme Doormat parenting doesn't seem to have helped at all. Not much time is spent on her to explore more of her personality but for as much as we get, she seems pretty much a stereotypical version of this trope rather than be a more complex and fleshed out version than how Roseanne usually does their characters. She tones it down quite a bit in season one of The Conners, possibly in reaction to her grandmother's death, but then dials it back up some in season two.
• Deadpan Snarker: Naturally, she's from a family full of them.
  If you look around at our family, you might not know it, but people are supposed to move out!
• Hypocrite: She's very upset that her unemployed mother has no money to lend her, but when Darlene tries to go off to a job interview and asks Harris to babysit her brother Mark, she refuses to take the task until her grandmother forces her to do it.
• Freudian Excuse: A lot of behavior problems deal with the resentment of being forced away from her old home and friends in Chicago to what she considers the middle of nowhere, with her very difficult to live with grandma. There's also her dad is nowhere to be seen.
• Generation Xerox: Teenage Harris has definitely inherited the Snark Gene. On a more physically-oriented note, a lot of people have commented that Emma Kenney definitely bears a striking resemblance to Sara Gilbert, much in the way Michael Fishman resembles Roseanne.
• Littlest Cancer Patient: Harris was born early and began her life in trouble.
• "Near and Dear" Baby Naming: Her name comes from the surnames of her mother Roseanne's, aunt Jackie's, grandmother Beverly's, and sister Becky's surnames, since they rallied around her when her life was in danger.
• Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: Inverted due to Roseanne being an Unreliable Narrator, or possibly a result of Comic-Book Time. Harris was born in 1997, which would make her around 20 in the reboot, but she is retconned back to high school age. She is said to be 18 in the second season of The Conners, which would mean she was born in 2001.
• Spoiled Brat: She's ill-behaved because of Darlene's overly lenient parenting and inability to stand up to her.
• Ungrateful Bastard: When her grandmother Roseanne passes, neighbors support the Conners family by sending them casseroles for free. Harris complains she doesn't like casseroles.

Mark Conner-Healy

Mark Conner-Healy

Played By: Ames McNamara

Appearances: The Conners

Darlene's son introduced in the Revival. In general, he's cheerful, well-adjusted, smart, and sensitive. He's both perceptive enough to see to the heart of many of the family's issues and optimistic enough to try to address them logically.

---

• Ambiguously Gay: He was quite flamboyant as a younger child, with a penchant for feminine attire.
  • Confirmed to be interested in boys in The Connersfirst season, where he asks Dan's advice about which of his male classmates to pursue.
  • He refers to himself as gay in season 2 making him one of the youngest explicitly gay characters on American network television.
• Ambiguous Gender Identity: Roseanne asks the obvious question (with surprising tact) and he doesn't even hesitate when he says he feels like a boy. He just really thinks girly clothes suit him.
• Big Little Brother: By season 5, he's grown taller than Harris.
• Camp Gay: He originally had shades of this, speaking in a high effeminate voice and wearing bright colored clothes. This aspect of his personality is greatly toned down as he ages.
• Dead Guy Junior: Named after his late paternal uncle, Mark Healy.
• Generation Xerox : Darlene mentions to David that Mark is artistic.
  • McNamara looks a little bit like he could be Sara Gilbert and Johnny Galecki's son, but he really looks like John Goodman's grandson.
• Nice Guy: Quite different from his namesake uncle Mark, who was more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. Young Mark is a wholesome, loving, and good-hearted kid.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's the energetic, sweet and nice Red Oni to his big sister's grumpy, selfish sullen Blue Oni.
• Small Parent, Huge Child: Both David and Darlene are very short, but Mark has shot up to such height that it's affected the character both behind the scenes and in dialog.
  • He was originally written as an 8-year-old but McNamara's growth between casting and the first shooting forced it to be revised up to 10 at the start of the Roseanne revival.
  • By the age of twelve, Mark towers over his mother (Sara Gilbert is 5'3") and is nearly the height of his 18-year-old sister (Emma Kenney is 5'7"). By the fourth season of The Conners, the 14-year-old McNamara is as tall as John Goodman and Jay R. Ferguson.
  • Jackie jokes about Mark being twelve feet tall.
  • His height also allowed for further handwaving about his age so that he could graduate from high school at the end of season 5, even though the actor was fifteen at that point.
• Teen Genius: Or at least smart enough to set his sights on a competitive-entrance magnet high school and get in without additional coaching at all, Darlene having only found out a day or two before the exam (and almost blown it for him...)
• Wholesome Crossdresser: As a young child he liked to wear skirts and other "girly" things. By his teens, dress his style becomes largely masculine but still tends to wear buttoned-up clothes.

Mary Conner

Mary Conner

Played By: Jayden Rey

Appearances: The Conners

DJ and Geena's daughter.

---

• Dead Guy Junior: Confirmed by Word of God to be named for her great-great-grandmother, Nana Mary.
• The Determinator: To an age-appropriate degree. The standard excuses the family uses to stall its younger members don't seem to work on her, a trait she appears to have gotten from her mother.
• Flat Character: Mainly because we don't get a lot of screen time to know her more personally. However, from the little we see she seems to be a perfectly normal, innocent little girl.
• Hollywood Genetics: Despite being DJ and Geena's child, Mary is even darker-skinned than Geena. Even so, she has a Caucasian father, so she would be biracial, not purely black.
• Missing Mom: DJ's wife, Geena, is deployed in Syria; she returns from active duty in The Conners.
• Nice Girl: We don't get much screen time with her but she seems to be a perfectly normal sweet and innocent little girl.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: To her cousin Mark. She's the Red Oni in that she's more serious, more intense, and less inclined to simply let things go.

Beverly Rose Conner-Rodriguez

Beverly Rose Conner-Rodriguez

Played By: Winter Lewis (Season 2), Noa Harari & Lia Harari (Season 3), Charlotte Sanchez (Season 4-present)

Appearances: The Conners

Beverly Rose Conner-Rodriguez is the daughter of Becky Conner and Emilio Rodriguez and one of the newest Conner descendants.

---

• Babies Ever After: Beverly Rose was born after her mother Becky struggled with conceiving and donating eggs.
• Basement-Dweller: She continues to live in the basement of Dan's house with Becky.
• Dead Guy Junior: She was named in honor of Becky's grandmother Beverly Harris and Becky's deceased mother Roseanne Conner.
• Disappeared Dad: As a result of being an illegal immigrant, her father Emilio is currently deported in Mexico. Beverly Rose hardly gets to see her dad.
• Morality Pet: She is this to her mother Becky when her mother relapses.
• Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: She jumps from infant to preschooler in the break between Season 3 and 4.

Extended Family Members

Beverly "Bev" Harris

Beverly "Bev" Harris

Played By: Estelle Parsons

Appearances: Roseanne | The Conners

Bev (born in 1929) is the mother of Roseanne and Jackie and the wife of Al, as well as the daughter of Nana Mary. She is overbearing and shrill and is avoided by all members of her family. She nags them with her shockingly whiny voice, often with good intentions but coming off the wrong way.

---

• Abusive Parents: An emotionally controlling mother who would passive aggressively insult her daughters.
• The Alcoholic: Played for Drama in one episode. Specifically though, after she is sent to Alcoholics Anonymous, she uses this as a chance to make everyone else feel bad about not being more sensitive to her "illness" and judge them for supposedly being alcoholics themselves.
• Ascended Extra: Her role in the series increases significantly over time.
• Awful Wedded Life: Hints and statements in the series imply that her marriage to Al wasn't a good one.
• Butt-Monkey: Easily the most abused character on the show, though given her treatment of her daughters, at times it's almost justified.
• Compassionate Critic : She sees herself this way, but everyone hates the things she says, even when she's trying to be nice. To Jackie: "I think it's wonderful that you have ideas, because if you don't keep having ideas, how do you know when you come up with a good one?"
• Dirty Old Woman: Kicked out of her nursing home for having a ton of sex with the other residents. Sometimes several at a time. In various parts of the facility.
• Domestic Abuse: Not stated, but it's implied Al was just as cruel to her as he was to Jackie and Roseanne. Not to mention the constant cheating.
• Extreme Doormat: To her husband, which could explain the way she treats her daughters.
• Flanderization: She starts out as a slightly annoying, overly-critical conservative woman, but later in the series becomes an insane, ultra-fundamentalist closeted lesbian who nags everyone around her in a shrill, high-pitched shriek of a voice.
  • Seems to be reverting back to her old self a bit post-revival.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: To virtually her entire family, especially Jackie; Roseanne is one of the few to show any kind of tolerance for her, often tested to extreme degrees.
• The Ghost: Does not appear onscreen in season 3 of The Conners, likely for the very sensible reason that bringing a nonagenerian on set during a pandemic might not be the best idea.
• Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Is a pathological believer that abortion is wrong.
• Hereditary Homosexuality: In the original series finale of Roseanne, both she and her daughter Jackie were revealed to be gay. Before the 2018 retcon.
• Innocently Insensitive: Though the innocent part may be up for debate.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Bev may be incredibly critical and picky but she does have well-meaning intentions.
• Late Coming Out: After her husband Al died, Beverly later came out as a lesbian to her family in her 70's during Season 9 as a part of Roseanne's book.
• Lipstick Lesbian: She was revealed to be a lesbian in the series finale of Roseanne. Retconned in the 2018 revival.
• Manipulative Bitch: At her worst, she an emotionally manipulating jerkass who wants everyone to do what she wants.
• My Beloved Smother: At her best, she nags only because she is truly worried for her family.
• No Bisexuals: After many relationships with men, Bev outed herself as a lesbian in the final season - though it turned out to just be a part of Roseanne's book, because she was disappointed in all the crap Bev had to take and wanted her to assert herself more. In the revival, she is shown to be extremely heterosexually promiscuous in her old age, a major departure from her prudish conservatism in the original series.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: The end of a later season episode revealed that Bev is actually faking her spazziness as a way to mess with her family.
• Old People are Nonsexual: Averted with Bev who really got around with many men after her divorce.
• Outliving One's Offspring: As of The Conners, where Roseanne has died. Bev explicitly mentions this trope, prompting Jackie to exclaim that Bev (at 92 and still kicking) is going to outlive the entire family.
• Parental Favoritism: Bev seems to favor Roseanne over Jackie, but one episode deals with this in depth. When she saw the way the two acted as children, she saw much more potential in Jackie, and believed she would be a highly successful professional instead of floating from one mediocre job to another. However, she always saw Roseanne as being a wife and mother, and is happy for her for achieving that. She had high hopes for Jackie and sees her as a disappointment, but is proud of Roseanne for exceeding her (lower) expectations. When this is revealed, both Roseanne and Jackie feel like they got a raw deal out of it (especially Roseanne).
• Pet the Dog: Had a lot of these moments to keep her from being entirely unlikable.
• Really Gets Around: To the point where she got kicked out of a retirement home over it.
• Straight Gay: Bev was revealed to be this in the original series finale of Roseanne, despite lacking in sterotypical lesbian appearence. Justified since this turned out to be part of Roseanne's book. This was retconned in the 2018 revival.
• Shotgun Wedding: It's revealed in season 6 that she and Al only got married because she was pregnant with Roseanne.
• Useless Bystander Parent: When it's revealed that Roseanne and Jackie's dad used to beat them, Jackie (partially defending him) points out that Bev wasn't much better, as whenever it was about to happen she'd just go into the kitchen to wash dishes and act like nothing was wrong.
  • A subversion occurs in The Conners episode "New Pipes and Old Secrets." A nurse discovers that Bev has a broken arm that never healed properly, and she reveals that Al was the cause: she defended Jackie and Roseanne from him in one of his rages and he took out his anger on her instead.

Albert "Al" Harris

Albert "Al" Harris

Played By: John Randolph

Appearances: Roseanne

• Abusive Parents: He would regularly hit Jackie and Roseanne in their childhoods.
• Bus Crash: He dies in the fifth season after being The Ghost for several years due to his and Beverly's divorce.
• Cerebus Retcon: When he appeared on the show he was mostly just obnoxious(his favorite joke is "pull my finger") and he's clearly the preferred parent over Bev, after he stops appearing in person and it's revealed he's been carrying on an affair for 20 years he's revealed to have been an abusive monster who beat Jackie and Roseanne for their entire childhoods.

Nana Mary

Nana Mary

Played By: Shelley Winters

Appearances: Roseanne

Nana Mary is Beverly's mother, and grandmother of Roseanne and Jackie who first appears in season three at a family barbecue. She is a brash, outspoken, and lovable retiree who gambles with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Unlike Bev, she is popular with the family.

---

• The Alcoholic: Although not an alcoholic like Beverly, Nana Mary is no stranger when it comes to liquor, especially at celebrations.
• Blind Without 'Em: "If she wears her glasses, she'll be in Lanford by 9. If she forgot 'em, she'll be in Lansing by midnight."
• Cloudcuckoo Lander: None of the Conner family seems to mind or even worry much, as her antics while drunk are very amusing and usually come at Bev's expense. D.J. mentioned that she passed out in the middle of the shrimp cocktail at Darlene and David's wedding. The same morning after the hen party, she was discovered in a sleeping bag in the living room without any pants, unable to remember anything of the night before.
• Cool Old Lady: The reason Roseanne and Jackie adore her. She is a lovable badass old lady.
• Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Averted. She revealed in one Thanksgiving episode that she's had two of them in her lifetime.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Not really much of a jerk. Nana Mary is outspoken and brash but she is beloved by her family for a reason.
• Lady Drunk: Though not as much as her daughter.
• Open-Minded Parent: Played with. She was more of a free spirit, but Bev viewed this as a bad thing because she believed she had no stability when she was a kid, coupled with the fact that she never knew who her real dad was. Mary reasoned that the reason Bev became so straitlaced and conservative was because she was specifically rebelling against Mary's liberal tendencies. Since this was during season nine, which later revealed that the entire show was a book Roseanne was writing, this is most likely Roseanne's interpretation of Bev and Mary's relationship and the reason behind it.
• Really Gets Around: In her younger days, and quite proud of it.
• Vague Age: Some of her sexual conquests seem to imply she's much older than she looks, though we're not clear on an exact number for that yet.
  Ann Marie: How old is she? She looks good.
  Roseanne: I dunno. I don't think anybody knows.... The only people who ever knew are dead.

Mark Healy

Mark Healy

Played By: Glenn Quinn

Appearances: Roseanne

Becky's boyfriend, later-husband, whom her parents greatly disliked at first but eventually grew fond of.

---

• Ascended Extra: Mark was supposed to be a one-shot date for Becky. He ended up lasting the rest of the series and marrying into the family.
• Big Brother Bully: Acts quite cruel and bastardly to David.
• Book Dumb: Mark is not traditionally smart but is known for his talents in mechanics.
• Bus Crash: Died sometime between the two-decade Sequel Gap of Seasons 9 and 10. Confirmed in The Conners that he was killed in a motorcycle accident.
• Character Development: Slowly, but surely, Mark transforms from a smart-mouth punk to a well-meaning, if occasionally bumbling, hard worker.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Mark even attacked David when it was thought that his brother was having sexual dreams over Becky.
• Dumbass Has a Point: He noticed that, between seeing him buy a heavy winter coat and not breaking a work contract he was hired to do, Dan didn't really want to move back to California and wanted to stay and try to mend his marriage.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: He first had a punker-like hairstyle but cut it sometime after his marriage with Becky.
• Flanderization: Originally a leather-jacket-clad greaser bad boy who wasn't book smart, but always seemed sharp and was shown to be even better than Dan at fixing motorcycles. After marrying Becky and returning to the show he became an idiotic dope/Manchild who routinely provided comic relief by shocking the rest of the characters with his lack of sense. Only when teaching David how to tie a bowtie before the latter's wedding at the end of Season 8 did Mark's original stoic, street-smart bad boy persona get one last moment in the spotlight.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The thoughtless, insensitive, ditzy, and generally jerkier older brother (Foolish) to David's thoughtful, sensitive, intellectual, and generally nicer younger brother (Responsible).
• Freudian Excuse: Comes from one hell of a broken home which explains his rude behavior.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: David once pointed out that the only people who liked having him around were himself and Becky, which doesn't count for much since David is his brother and Becky is his wife.
• Happily Married: He and Becky had their issues and their marriage was on the rocks more than once, but for the most part they were this trope. The finale reveals that he was actually married to Darlene, but they also fit this trope, though much like Dan dying, this was itself part of the in-universe book and he really did marry Becky.
• Hidden Depths: Starts off as the stereotypical semi-literate grease-monkey who will never amount to much. After marrying Becky, however, he admits that he's well-aware of his shortcomings and takes being a good husband and provider very seriously.
• Insecure Love Interest: After his marriage to Becky, he would reveal his insecurity to not being traditionally smart unlike her or being unable to afford the things she wants, afraid of her leaving him because of either one.
• Jerkass: Depending on the episode or situation he can be this or a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. If Mark acts like this, he's rude and cruel, especially to David.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Depending on the episode or situation he can be this or a jerkass. Mark became more of this in the later seasons, especially during Darlene and David's wedding episode where he not only shows compassion towards the brother he bullied his entire life, but also his own pain over their crappy home life.
• Killed Offscreen: Died in a motorcycle crash nearly twenty years onward, leaving Becky a widow.
• Parental Abandonment: His parents threw him out of the house when he was 16.
• Pet the Dog: Gets a few of these moments with David, especially in the later seasons.
• Plucky Comic Relief: In the later seasons, due to his aforementioned Flanderization.
• Pretty Boy: Mark is extremely handsome, which is part of the reason Becky fell for him. In one episode, even Darlene admits that he's "gorgeous" (although she then declares that she must "gut herself like a fish" for saying so).
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Because Glenn Quinn, the actor who portrayed Mark, had died in 2002, his character was written off as deceased too following the 2018 revival.
• Secret-Keeper: Downplayed when David was secretly living with Darlene. Mark knew and kept that from Roseanne, but he made the mistake of telling a friend he was staying with, which is how it all ended up coming out.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Manly Man (mechanic expert, tough, and crude) to David's Sensitive Guy (artist, sensitive, and thoughtful).
• Took a Level in Dumbass: In the later seasons, a stark contrast to his early appearances. While he was not the brightest, he was serious and actually quite sharp, but gradually became dimmer and silly as the show went on. At Leon's wedding, Roseanne even points him out to Leon's mother, saying "At least you're getting someone nice in your family. That's my son-in-law." Mark at that moment is playing with a lighter, and repeatedly saying "Ow" as it burns him.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Mark starts off as a Troubled, but Cute, disrespectful punk who Becky's folks couldn't stand. Over time, he softens up his rougher edges and becomes more likable.
• Troubled, but Cute: A moody tough guy, biker and mechanic expert, with frequent disregard of authority. Of course he has a Freudian Excuse, and he's handsome enough to make Go-Getter Girl Becky fall for him.

David Healy

David Healy

Played By: Johnny Galecki

Appearances: Roseanne | The Conners

David is Mark's younger brother. Whereas Mark was a rebellious delinquent at first, David is friendlier to the Conners, soft-spoken, artistic, and intelligent. He later enters a relationship with Darlene and collaborates with her by illustrating graphic novels that she writes, though he tends to be the more submissive one in the relationship.

---

• Beware the Nice Ones: While David is usually friendly (to the point of being an Extreme Doormat), he has occasionally been shown to be quite vicious when genuinely pissed off.
• Break the Cutie: Almost as bad as Jackie. His home life consisted of his mother repeatedly emotionally abusing him.
• Butt-Monkey: For a time he was pushed around quite a bit by the others, especially Mark and DJ.
• Cloudcuckoolander: We find out in the Revival that he ran off to build houses for the poor, met a woman named Blue, and can't be with her because he has to spiritually uncouple from Darlene first. Or something.
• Disappeared Dad: His parents divorce early on and his father leaves him behind, never to be seen again. Alas, in the revival, David becomes this to his own kids, Harris and Mark. He's actually never had a relationship with Mark because he left when he was just a baby; when he returns to Lanford, he has to ask Darlene what their son is like.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: When he first appears he's a male version of Darlene named Kevin. Even when he becomes a recurring character he's still a bit of a trouble maker(though not to near the extent of his brother Mark), convincing Darlene to skip school and casually sneaking out of his house while grounded.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The thoughtful, sensitive, intellectual, and generally nicer younger brother (Responsible) to Mark's thoughtless, insensitive, ditzy, and generally jerkier older brother (Foolish).
• Freudian Excuse: David came from an extremely abusive home where he learned to survive by becoming a people-pleaser. Originally he kept up this persona around Darlene and the Conners because he didn't realize that their home wasn't abusive, giving him a reputation as an Extreme Doormat, particularly when it came to Darlene—as the first person who ever loved him, he was even more afraid of making her angry with him. Once he felt safer, he became more assertive to the point that in the final seasons, he Took a Level in Jerkass.
• Happily Married: To Darlene (yes, really). Sadly, they're separated by the revival season, and he's already found another girlfriend, Blue. He and Darlene file for divorce in The Conners.
• Henpecked Husband: Boyfriend, rather. All throughout their teenage years, David rarely talked back to Darlene, went along with everything she told him, and frequently even took the blame for things that she did in order to stay in her good graces.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: A surprise aversion. Considering his Nice Guy ways, Roseanne thoroughly expected him to stand aside and encourage Darlene to chase her college dreams without him. Instead, he was fighting to keep her at home and threw a massive sulk when she finally decided to go. Later, when she left him for another guy, he tried to sabotage their relationship. Only after he's gained more security can he honestly wish her well without him.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: The Feminine Boy (soft-spoken and sweet) to Darlene's Masculine Girl (harsh and rude).
  • Enforced when other characters begin pushing him to take up 'feminine' hobbies as well, and ends up doing cooking, cleaning, and sewing for the other guys.
• Nice Guy: David may be kind of passive-aggressive, but he is a very polite, friendly, sweet guy who is always respectful to the Conners. He tends to step into other people's arguments to try to defuse tension or 'explain' one side to another and is usually successful.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: By the time of the revival, David and Darlene's separation/reconciliation zig-zag was dictated by Galecki's limited availability, since he was still doing The Big Bang Theory. Ironically, after that series ended, he broke up with Darlene again, seemingly for good. (Galecki didn't want to commit to another regular series role so soon after his last one ended.)
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The sensitive guy to Mark, Dan and DJ's manly man.
• Sudden Name Change: In his debut episode, he introduced himself as "Kevin". Later lampshaded by Roseanne, who claimed David was a name Darlene had made up for him.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Justified. Due to a number of Break the Cutie moments (mother's abuse, Mark being a Big Brother Bully, and emotional abuse from Darlene), David wasn't quite as sensitive and sweet in later seasons.
  • In the revival he appears to have taken an additional level in Jerkass, this time less excusable. It's quite a jump between being a snobbish, self-absorbed teen trying to assert oneself and being a grown man who can't hold a job and who eventually abandons his wife and two children in order to "find himself" with other women.

Crystal Anderson Conner

Crystal Anderson Conner

Played By: Natalie West

Appearances: Roseanne | The Conners

A neurotic yet sweet childhood friend of Rosanne and Jackie's. Once divorced, once widowed, Crystal struggled to raise her son Lonnie by herself, eventually marrying Dan's father Ed.

---

• Adoptive Peer Parent: Stepparent. Crystal later became Dan's stepmother, despite being roughly his age.
• Auto Erotica: She lost her virginity in a car.
• The Bus Came Back: She returns in the revival (after appearing last in the sixth season) and announces that she’s retiring from working in the casino with full benefits... but is still shown working there in The Conners. As Crystal explains it to Darlene (who's also working at the casino), she figured she'd be too bored with retirement.
• Butt-Monkey: A fairly regular target of the others' snark.
  • Episode "Radio Days" revealed she had a difficult life: her parents kicked her out when she was 16, moved in with her crazy Aunt Ida and a house full of cats, married at 17, widowed at 18, tornado carried away her car and hospitalized for pneumonia.
• Extreme Doormat: A very fidgety and modest woman who is nearly incapable of saying a bad thing about anybody, which often results in this.
• Family Theme Naming: Zigzagged. When asked by Rosanne what her baby's name will be, she says she's Crystal, her mother was Ruby and she's like to give her baby girl a different name.
• Glamorous Single Mother: Averted. She's in the same economic state as the Conners until marrying Ed, and often has trouble getting Lonnie to listen to her.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Roseanne and Jackie as they've been close since childhood.
• Jerkass Ball: As she states and shows, she becomes quite nasty when pregnant.
• Lonely Together: How she ended up with Ed.
• May–December Romance: She’s a lot younger than Ed, and they have known each other since Crystal was a young girl. The minister at their wedding even lampshaded it, talking about when the fully grown Ed "first met a twelve-year-old Crystal." (Also a Continuity Snarl, as Dan and Roseanne hadn't even met at that age, and there's no indication she knew Dan first.)
• Nice Girl: Crystal is a nice and good-hearted person.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: The others knew that Sonny had regularly cheated on her before he died but were reluctant to say anything to Crystal, as she was grieving. She reveals, though, that she knew the entire time.
• Out of Focus: Goes from a regular in the first four seasons to one or two appearances in the later seasons. She vanishes by the end of the eighth season. She did make a couple appearances in the revival season, though, and has also appeared a couple times thus far in The Conners.
• Second Love: To Ed, as he and his first wife are divorced.
• Serious Business: Bowling, which her friends mock her for.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: When Dan questions why she would want to marry Ed, she responds that he's "kind, generous, and funny".
• Unexplained Accent: Born in Lanford, speaks with a southern accent. Lampshaded in one episode when Jackie finally asks why that is, and Crystal says her father came from Arkansas. Jackie, however, is somewhat dubious.

Ed Conner

Ed Conner

Played By: Ned Beatty

Appearances: Roseanne

Dan's traveling salesman father. He has a tense relationship with Dan, stemming from Ed being away most of the time when Dan was a kid and constantly trying to get Dan to follow in his footsteps, but is loved by the rest of the family.

---

• The Atoner: Tries to be a better father the second time around and showers Dan and the kids with gifts to make up for Dan's lousy childhood.
• Big Fun: An utterly nice guy and almost as large as his son.
• Bus Crash: Ed is killed off on the sequel series, presumably from old age. His demise results in Dan and Ed Junior forging a stronger bond.
• Break His Heart to Save Him: Ed made himself out to be the bad guy and hid Dan's mother's mental instability from him so Dan wouldn't think badly of her.
• Cerebus Retcon: In The Conners he's stated to have been an abusive bastard who forgot all about Dan and his mom once he had another family and it's shown that he deliberately kept Dan away from his half siblings out of spite, when in Roseanne he was a friendly guy who had a strained but loving relationship with Dan and his second family came when Dan was already an adult.
• Informed Attribute: Roseanne alludes to Ed being a racist but he doesn't show any attitude like this onscreen.
• Lonely Together: How he and Crystal ended up together. As he puts it, "it's a hell of a lot to have in common".
• May–December Romance: With Crystal, whom he has known since she was a little girl.
• My Greatest Second Chance: He views marrying and raising a family with Crystal as a way to be a better father and husband than he was with Dan and his first wife.
• Nice Guy: Much like his son, despite their difficult relationship. Ed is well-liked by his family.
• Papa Wolf: Ed took all of Dan's hostility over supposedly not caring about his ex-wife, but when Dan gets drunk, comes to house to talk to him, and scares Crystal and Lonnie, Ed is not happy and tells Dan so when his son comes by the next day to apologize.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Ned Beatty retired from acting in 2013, which may have informed the producers' decision to kill off his character. (Age obviously isn't a factor, as Estelle Parsons continues to appear despite being ten years older than Beatty.) Beatty would die only shortly after his character did, in 2021.
• Second Love: Strictly speaking, fourth love to Crystal, as her third husband (but first one she actually loved) died.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Tells Dan to back off when Dan tells Ed to stay away from Crystal.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: The main reason Dan resents him so much is that he would leave for work without notice of how long he would be gone and bring home gifts as a way to apologize.

Fred

Fred

Played By: Michael O'Keefe

Appearances: Roseanne

Fred is a mechanic who works at the garage with Dan and is introduced to Jackie, leading to a one-night stand, accidental impregnation, and marriage.

---

• Dogged Nice Guy: Had this relationship with Jackie at first. When he finally got her (mostly because he impregnated her) they both realized it was a mistake.
• Nice Guy: While his relationship with Jackie didn't work in the end, Fred is a pretty decent guy who is still on pretty good terms with the Conners.
• Only Sane Man: Never seems too affected by the insanity of Jackie's family, aside from occasionally being weirded out.
• The Stoic: Stood out by being perpetually laid back and calm, often making him the perfect foil for the ever-more-neurotic Jackie.
• Taking the Kids: A rare example where the couple's not even married; Fred sues Jackie for partial custody of their son Andy before the kid's even born yet. This is mostly because Jackie refused to let Fred have anything at all to do with Andy's life and Fred wanting involvement.

Geena Williams-Conner

Geena Williams-Conner

Played By: Rae'Ven Larrymore Kelly (child), Xosha Roquemore (Season 10) and Maya Lynne Robinson (The Conners)

Appearances: Roseanne | The Conners

Geena is DJ's classmate as a child. They grow up to both serve in the US Armed Forces and get married and have a child, Mary.

---

• The Bus Came Back: Reappeared out of nowhere between her first appearance and the revival.
• Childhood Friend Romance: We first meet Geena when she's DJ's classmate. DJ didn't want to kiss her in a school play because she was black.
• The Fundamentalist: When it comes to religion, Geena has no sense of moderation.
• Ice Queen: She is a harsh disciplinarian towards her husband and daughter, often being embarrassed or dismissive of her husband's ways such as not forcing their daughter to attend church.
• The Pessimist: She's very negative and has no sense of humor.
• Put on a Bus: She will not return for Season 2, having been called for active duty in the army again.

Andy Harris

Andy Harris

Appearances: Roseanne

Andy Harris (born in 1994) is the infant son of Jackie and Fred, nephew of Dan and Roseanne Conner, and cousin of Darlene, Becky, D.J., Jerry, and Harris.

He first appeared in the episode "Labor Day". Jackie breastfeeds Andy at the altar while marrying Fred ("Altar Egos").

---

• A Mistake Is Born: Born from a one-night-stand between Jackie and Fred. Unplanned but loved by his relatives nonetheless.
• Camp Straight: Jackie likes to dress him up in outfits Fred deems to be feminine.
• Generation Xerox: Andy and Jerry are like brothers and take naps together in the same crib, like their mothers, Jackie and Roseanne did.
• Like Siblings: D.J. makes it a point to spend time with and be like a big brother to his cousin because he doesn't have any siblings (yet).
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In The Conners, his whereabouts since Season 9 have never been mentioned. The writers have claimed in interviews that they are writing in an alternate universe where the Jackie/Fred relationship never happened, but with no on-screen confirmation the canon isn't clear.

Louise Goldufski

Louise Goldufski

Played By: Katey Sagal

Appearances: The Conners

Louise Beth Goldfuski is an old friend of Dan and Roseanne in high school, now the former's wife.

---

• Second Love: Is Dan's. They later marry in season four of The Conners.

Friends of the Family

Leon Carp

Leon Carp

Played By: Martin Mull

Appearances: Roseanne

Leon, originally as Roseanne's stuffy boss at Rodbell's Luncheonette and later as her business partner in The Lanford Lunchbox, is portrayed as a foil to Roseanne; although they have a contentious relationship at times, Leon is a loyal friend to Roseanne (and vice versa), eventually becoming an honorary family member of sorts.

---

• Adapted Out: Leon is not featured in the revival season, nor on The Conners.
• Ascended Extra: One of two recurring characters who isn't related to the Conners to gain a prominent role as the show progresses. The other being Nancy.
• Bad Boss: Averted. Roseanne certainly treated him like one, but anyone else would've fired her after the first day.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Vanished without even a mention in between seasons 9 and 10. There hasn't been any mention of him on The Conners either. However, given that Roseanne isn't around anymore and the diner went under, there's no logical reason for Leon to return anyway.
• A Day in the Limelight: The infamous “December Bride” episode.
• Deadpan Snarker: He kind of had to be to deal with Roseanne. But really, it was give and take between them.
• Gay Best Friend: To Roseanne and Jackie.
• Happily Married: To Scott.
• Jerkass: At his worst, Leon can be a petty jerk who makes condescending statements.
• Honorary Aunt: In the initial series finale, he and Scott happily proclaim themselves as baby Harris’ Aunt Scott and Aunt Leon.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yeah he does have his jerkass moments with Roseanne, but he is still good friends with her. He is conscientious and well-meaning.
• Straight Gay: Lampshades the hell out of this during "December Bride":
  Leon: I hate to shop! I am absolutely insensitive. I detest Barbara Streisand. And for God's sake, I'm a Republican!
  Roseanne: But do you like having sex with men?
  Leon: Well, it's...
  Roseanne: GAY!
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Eventually becomes this with Roseanne.

Fisher

Fisher

Played By: Matt Roth

Appearances: Roseanne

Jackie’s younger boyfriend in season 5.

---

• Age-Gap Romance: He’s slightly younger than Jackie. However, he was under the impression that Jackie was 33 years old (she lied about her age), but she’s actually 37.
• Beware of the Nice Ones: Fisher is a nice young man, but in the episode where it’s revealed that he hits Jackie, he gets frustrated because he lost Dan’s poker game.
• Domestic Abuse: He inflicted this upon Jackie during a Very Special Episode.
• Friend to All Children: He’s actually nice to DJ and he even asked Dan permission to teach DJ how play ice hockey, as Fisher played when he was younger.
• Nice Guy: He’s very nice and approachable. However, see Beware of the Nice Ones above. Even when Jackie ended things the first time, Roseanne called her out for doing so.
  Roseanne: Are you out of your mind? He’s the perfect guy for you!
• Only One Name: He’s only ever called Fisher, and it isn’t stated if Fisher is his first or last name.
• Would Hit a Girl: He hurt Jackie because he lost his job and was unable to find work. And it’s revealed that he hit Jackie before he even lost his job.

Nancy Bartlett

Nancy Bartlett

Played By: Sandra Bernhard

Appearances: Roseanne

Arnie’s bisexual ex-wife and a good friend of Roseanne. She worked alongside Roseanne, Leon and Jackie in the Lanford Lunch Box.

---

• Ascended Extra: One of two recurring characters who isn't related to the Conners to gain a prominent role as the show progresses. The other being Leon.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: She gets a boob job using the money Arnie borrowed from the Conners.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: She definitely had her moments - falling in love with Arnie, for starters.
• Depraved Bisexual: With no mention of the B word, it's clear that Nancy enjoys dating and sleeping with lots of men and women after her break-up with Arnie.
• Going Commando: Expressed a regret that she hadn't worn underwear under her dress to attend what turned out to be a higher-class businesswomen's meeting.
• It's All About Me: Can adopt this attitude at times; particularly when Roger, a contractor that she was involved with, screwed Dan and his friends out of a ton of money and skipped town (effectively dumping Nancy in the process), Nancy could only wail on and on about how hard she was taking the situation.
• Kavorka Woman: Not hideous, but Sandra Bernhard definitely isn't known for her looks; despite this, at least when she lands women, they tend to be knockouts.
  Roseanne: Why is it when you date men they look like Arnie, but when you date women they look like her?
• Lipstick Lesbian: She’s a lesbian and she does wear girly clothing.
• No Bisexuals: Though she was played by an openly bisexual actress and often said things which clearly implied that she was not 100% lesbian ("I think I'm gonna go back to men this week") nobody ever used the "B-word". It was the '90s.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Absolutely had this sort of relationship with Arnie.

Arnie Thomas

Arnie Thomas

Played By: Tom Arnold

Appearances: Roseanne

One of Dan’s poker buddies, previously married to Nancy.

---

• Alien Abduction: He claims the reason he left Nancy was that he was abducted by aliens. (The Tag for that episode and his follow-up appearance suggested it was true.)
• The Friend No One Likes: Nobody speaks highly of Arnie, and even Roseanne chastises Jackie for having a one night stand with him.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Arnie isn’t a pleasant person, but he’s always nice to Dan.
• The Load: Borrowed money from Dan for what the latter thought was an engagement ring (it later turned out to be breast enlargement surgery) and never appeared to have paid it back. Also claimed to have skipped seeing his mom on Mother's Day because he owed her money too.

Chuck Mitchell

Chuck Mitchell

Played By: James Pickens Jr.

Appearances: Roseanne | The Conners

Dan's best friend and business partner who frequents his poker games.

---

• Ascended Extra: While still a recurring character, Chuck has a larger presence in the revival season and The Conners where his friendship with Dan is explored further.
• Happily Married: To Anne Marie, and they are still together in the revival.
• Innocently Insensitive: Gets one of these moments in The Conners, when he and his poker buddies show up at Dan's for a poker night to try and help him with his grief over Roseanne's passing, and he tries to help with a remark that really gets under Dan's skin:
  Chuck: We know what you're going through.
  Dan: I'm sorry, Chuck, I didn't realize Anne Marie was dead!
• Nice Guy: There hasn’t been a time where he ever bad mouths someone. When Fisher was having a rough time finding work, and was frustrated that he was losing in one of Dan’s poker games, Chuck offered to help him, only for Fisher to harshly reject the help.
• Retcon: In The Conners he's stated to have been Dan's business partner all along while in Roseanne they only became partners in the revival season. They did work together on a spec house once in the parent series but it was explicitly a one time thing and both were unemployed at the time. Similarly Chuckie says he only became Dan's partner because he needed a white partner to be able to do business in a small town when in the parent series they were old high school buddies who reconnected when their wives did, at which time Chuckie worked at the Wellman plastics factory before getting laid off.
• True Companions: With Dan. So much to where he was the first person Dan contacted when Roseanne died, and remained by his side in the aftermath.

Anne Marie Mitchell

Anne Marie Mitchell

Played By: Adilah Barnes

Appearances: Roseanne

Chuck's wife and a childhood friend of Roseanne’s. After reuniting in the principal's office (when Becky was flipping the bird during a school picture), they become close friends again.

---

• Happily Married: To Chuck. They are still together in the revival. In the original series episode "Sweet Dreams," Anne Marie is introduced at Roseanne's murder trial as Roseanne's "only happily married friend."
• Remember the New Guy?: When she was introduced as an old friend of Roseanne’s, she immediately was included in Roseanne’s social circle.

---