The Conners: ABC comedy series near season 4 renewal as cast close new deals

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

ABC's The Conners is VERY close to a season 4 renewal at the network. The main cast is in the midst of inking new deals and it should be a matter of time before the news is made official.

This is the time of year that networks begin to decide which show will be renewed and which shows will be canceled. According to "Deadline", The Conners is showing all the signs that it will be safe and will be back for a fourth season. The show's four main cast members – John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, and Lecy Goranson – have all signed new contracts for a potential fourth season. The renewal for season four would be for 20 episodes and since The Conners is technically a spinoff of the Roseanne revival, the cast has to resign contracts after every season. This is the only reason that ABC hasn't officially announced the renewal as they are merely waiting for the ink to completely dry. Also at play is a license-fee deal between Tom Werner's Werner Entertainment and ABC. Werner Entertainment handles all the cast negotiations and all signs point to the license-fee deal closing between the two entities. In fact, a formal renewal seems so certain that the show has already been hiring new writers for season four.

The Conners is ABC's most-watched comedy and it has gone through quite a bit getting to this point. The show was born from the 2018 revival of Roseanne, which, despite extremely strong numbers for the network, was canceled after star Roseanne Barr made racist remarks on social media. Once all the dust settled, ABC was still eager to continue on with the working-class sitcom without Roseanne and they greenlit The Conners. The spinoff of sorts focuses on the same family from the parent series following the death of Barr's matriarch. While the numbers weren't as huge as the Roseanne revival ratings, The Conners ranked number one in total viewers and in the 18-49 for ABC during its first season.

For its third season, The Conners has continued to mix comedy with real-life issues. The series took on the COVID-19 pandemic at the start of the season and they had an episode that addressed the 2020 Presidential election. Most recently, the show introduced a storyline that focused on Becky (Lecy Goranson), a recovering alcoholic, suffering a relapse. The Conners has managed to balance comedy with series issues and its fanbase seems to appreciate the show for its willingness to do so.

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