ABC is still in talks with Johnny Galecki to return for the “Roseanne” revival, ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey said Sunday at the Television Critics Association summer press tour. “Those conversations are still in progress.”
Galecki played David on the ABC sitcom for six seasons, but has not yet been confirmed to return for the eight-episode revival. The actor is currently starring on CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory.”
Dungey also addressed questions about John Goodman’s involvement in the new show, given that his character was memorably revealed to be dead in the original series finale. Goodman’s presence in the revival raises questions, given the decision by the “Will & Grace” creators to ignore the events of their own series finale in order to reboot the show at NBC this season.
“I wouldn’t say it’s ignoring the events of the finale,” Dungey said, playing coy with plot details surrounding the mid-season entry. “But I can say that Dan is definitely still alive.”
“We had a lot of conversations with Tom Werner when he first came in to talk about doing the reboot of the show,” she said of one of the show’s executive producers. “We’ve now heard the broad strokes of the creative for these eight episodes, and we feel confident that it’s going to a return to the show that everybody knew and loved.”
Roseanne Barr has become more familiar for her combative Twitter presence and outspoken political views than for her on-screen work in recent years, but Dungey said she doesn’t believe that puts the show at risk.
“[Barr] actually publicly announced a few weeks ago that her son is going to be taking over her Twitter account,” Dungey said. “That was all by her. We did not ask her to do that, but she did make that decision.”
“What we’ve heard from Roseanne is that she’s very excited by the show,” Dungey said. “She’s very focused on the show. The writers’ room has just started, and she is going to be an active contributor to that.”