Roseanne Barr Shares Disapproval Of Her Sitcom Character's Death

One of TV’s best-known families is back on the screen, but they are missing its matriarch, as the character of Roseanne Conner was killed off through an accidental opioid overdose, reports The Guardian.

The Conners premiered Wednesday on ABC, five months after Roseanne was cancelled following a racist tweet by the show’s star and creator, Roseanne Barr. The last time audiences had seen Roseanne, she was hiding an opioid addiction stemming from knee pain, and she was about to undergo surgery. But in the premiere, the blue-collar American family is grieving her demise.

This plot twist is something that Barr was unhappy with. She wrote a statement saying the manner of her death “lent an unnecessary grim and morbid dimension to an otherwise happy family show.”

The first episode of The Conners shows the family struggling to come to terms with the death of Roseanne. It is first thought that she had a heart attack, but later it is revealed that it is an overdose. The character was hiding painkillers around the house and getting them from a circle of friends who were sharing medication in order to avoid costs.

During the premiere, Barr made her feelings known by tweeting out, “I AIN’T DEAD, B-TCHES!!!!”