Roseanne says she knows how her character will die off

Back in May, Roseanne Barr posted a racist tweet about former Barack Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett. ABC responded promptly; firing the comedian and cancelling her series, Roseanne. Never ones to turn down a potential payday, ABC later announced it would pick up a spinoff of the series that included all of the cast, minus Barr, called The Connors.

But how would the series move on without its titular matriarch? The Connors, according to Roseanne, will kill off Roseanne with an opioid overdose. In the original revival, Roseanne struggled with an opioid addiction after a knee injury, so this death warrant wouldn’t be entirely out of the blue. In fact, the original plans for the second season included a story arc dealing with her struggle.

In a new interview with conservative Youtuber Brandon Straka, Barr spoiled her character’s death: “They had her die of an opium — or an opioid overdose . ... But I was never going to have Roseanne die of an opioid overdose. It’s so cynical and horrible. She should have died as a hero or not at all. ... It wasn’t enough to just do what they did to me. They had to so cruelly insult the people who loved that family and that show. They had to cruelly insult them. And that’s what they chose to do, so there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s done, it’s over, there’s no fight left. I did what I had to do to save my own life and I did it.”

Keep in mind that Barr no longer has any connection to the production of the show, so her sharing this news is as much a rumour as anything. Nevertheless, The Connors will première on October 16 on ABC, when we’ll not only learn if Roseanne, the character, does indeed die of an opioid (or Ambien?) addiction, but also if Roseanne, the somehow real-life person, will move to Israel in protest as she once promised.

RACHEL LUNA / GETTY IMAGES Roseanne Barr was fired and her series cancelled after an ill-advised tweet in May.