It's beginning to look like The Conners will be returning for season 3. Sara Gilbert, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, and Lecy Goranson have reportedly closed new deals to return. It is believed that season 3 will consist of nineteen episodes, though the upcoming season has yet to be officially confirmed by ABC or the cast. With deals now closed, it seems that an official announcement is imminent. Apparently a license fee deal between ABC and Tom Werner's Werner Entertainment needs to be reached before an announcement can be made.
Tom Werner spoke about a possible season 3 of The Conners back in January, though he chose his words very carefully. "We are very pleased with how the show is doing and my hope is that... I'm confident that the network will pick up the show for another year, hopeful anyway," he said. Werner revealed that he believed there was a lot of excitement at ABC with the first two seasons of the Roseanne spin-off series. It appears he was correct.
ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke recently spoke about The Conners and felt like the show was just getting its "groove." She went on to say, "We will do The Conners as long as they do more episodes." Roseanne fans weren't initially sure what to think of a new show continuing on without its star, but like Burke says, the show has found its "groove" and has a lot of the old fanbase, along with some new ones, thanks to some younger characters who are new to the show.
It is believed that Sara Gilbert, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, and Lecy Goranson have all been given small pay bumps to come back for another season. The four actors are from the original series and have the biggest parts in The Conners, for the most part. Plus, Gilbert also serves as an executive producer on the show. This season, the series remains ABC's most watched comedy series, averaging 7.9 million viewers. There probably were not a whole lot of Roseanne fans who would've thought that the show would be this successful after two seasons. Roseanne Barr is also pretty surprised, as she wasn't too happy about the show going on without her.
The show follows The Conners, a working class family struggling to get by on a modest household income. After the death of the original show's lead character Roseanne, they are forced to face the daily struggles of life in their home in the fictional Lanford, Illinois, in a way they never have before. After debuting at number one with season one, the show took a bit of a dip before rising up even stronger for season 2. Things could get even bigger for season 3, if everything goes according to plan. Deadline was the first to announce that The Conners principal cast had signed new contracts.