Matthew Broderick has been cast as Aunt Jackie’s love interest onThe Conners. Broderick plays a character named Peter who will make his debut during the October 30th Halloween episode. Back when theRoseannerevival series was announced, many fans were wondering about getting a Halloween episode in the fall. Theannual Halloweenepisodes are often some of the most fun of the season, but those hopes were thrown in the garbage when Roseanne Barr tanked the show with a single racist tweet. However,The Connersis here to keep the tradition alive.
This week marked the first episode ofThe Conners, which did better than expected in the ratings department. The upcoming second episode features Johnny Galecki as David with his new girlfriend, Blue, who is played byJuliette Lewis. For many fans of the show, it’s exciting to see David and Darlene interact on screen, but it’s going to be weird for a major reason that has nothing to do with the spin-off or the originalRoseanneseries. Instead, it has to do with National Lampoon’sChristmas Vacation, where Galecki and Lewis first worked together as brother and sister. Seeing them as lovers might be a little too much to take in for some fans.
In addition toMatthew Broderickand Juliette Lewis, it has been announced that Justin Long has been cast as Darlene’s love interest, who will show up this season. Love is definitely in the air after the death of Roseanne Conner. Tuesday’s premiere episode ofThe Connersdid a commendable job of paying tribute to the former show’s star, while also blazing a new trail that was familiar in the best possible way. Now, new characters will be introduced to one of America’s favorite families.
Matthew Broderick has also joined the cast ofDaybreak, Netflix’s upcoming high school apocalypse dramedy series. His role onThe Connersis being described as a “guest arc,” which means that he may have only signed on for a few episodes in the new series. Laurie Metcalf’sAunt Jackiedidn’t always have the best luck with the opposite sex in the originalRoseanneseries, so it will be interesting to see how long Broderick’s Peter character sticks around. Now that Roseanne Barr is gone,The Connerswill be able to focus on the rest of the characters on the show, which is refreshing.
The debut ofThe Connersdrew 10.5 million viewers, which is down 55 percent from theRoseannerevival’s massive 18 million premiere earlier this year. However, the ratings were only slightly less than the revival series season finale. In the end,The Connerswill not be the ratings juggernaut that the previous show was, but according to star John Goodman, that really isn’t the point anyway. Goodman is just happy to be able to continue to tell the stories of the characters, which had already been set up during the revival series. The actor is also thankful that Roseanne Barr let the show happen to begin with. The Matthew Broderick casting news was first reported byEntertainment Weekly.
