Roseanne Barr, John Goodman Talk Trump, How 'Roseanne' Reboot Will Deal With Dan's Death

The onscreen couple discussed returning to the show after 20 years and how the current political climate will be handled in the revival on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’

Roseanne Barr and John Goodman stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday (March 22) to discuss the return of Roseanne.

“It’s like we took a two-week break and came back after 20 years,” said Goodman of returning to the show. “But I was so much older.” Barr added, “It was like a wormhole.”

Unsurprisingly, the discussion quickly turned political. Kimmel stated that Barr was the original crazy political tweeter, to which the actress responded, “Trump totally stole my act.” Barr then reflected on her own presidential campaign. “I ran my whole campaign on Twitter in 2012,” she said. “It’s really hard to get on the ballot on account of, you know, corruption and stuff. I was only allowed on three state ballots,” she shared. Though only three states were allowed to vote for her, she accumulated a number of supporters. “I still came in sixth!”

It’s no secret that Roseanne Conner, much like the actress behind the role, is a Trump supporter. Barr shared that similar to the dynamics of the Conner family, her real-life family also faced a lot of tensions based on differing opinions about the president. In The Hollywood Reporter’s recent cover story about the revival, Barr stated, “It’s the conversation everybody is having. Families are not speaking to each other. People are still shocked and upset about it. It’s the state of our country.”

During the late-night interview, Kimmel brought up Barr’s past friendship with Hillary Clinton. After asking about Barr calling Clinton a murderer, she claims she never tweeted the now deleted post. “I had some disagreement with her foreign policy,” Barr said of her former friend.

Kimmel stated that he was surprised by Barr’s support of Trump given her socially liberal views. “I’m still the same. You all moved,” she said of Trump’s critics. “You all went so f—ing far out, you lost everybody.”

“A lot of us, no matter who we voted for, don’t want to see our president fail,” she said. “You want Pence for the president? Well, then zip that f—in’ lip!”

Barr also shared her advice for her distraught daughter following Trump’s victory. “Just chill. Try to think positive for why people wanted a change,” she said. “It’s up to us to make this government work, no matter who’s president. It’s up to us to do our job as citizens and if we don’t like something, let them know you don’t like it.”

Earlier in the interview, Kimmel asked the actors about Goodman’s character Dan’s death on the original series. “If you’re a real fan on the show, though, you’d know that Dan himself was never dead,” said Barr. When Kimmel asked how Roseanne knows this, she responded, “Because I wrote the s—.” She then promised that her TV husband’s death will be addressed in the upcoming episodes.

Barr also discussed her multiple threats to leave the original series. “I wasn’t really quitting,” she explained. “I threatened. I quit only two times.” She revealed that the first time she quit was during the taping of the third episode because the series hadn’t even aired. Goodman shared that he stood by Barr during her first outburst. “I was in New York shooting Sea of Love on the week that we had off and I got a phone call from Laurie [Metcalf]. She was very upset,” he said. “She wondered what I was gonna do about it. I said, ‘Well, we gotta dance with the one that brung us,’ meaning Roseanne. So we kind of had her back.”

Barr explained that she has calmed down since the first time on the show. “I’m on social security now,” she said. “I don’t have to worry no more ‘cause I’m covered.”