Becky Conner “Hasn’t Really Dealt With” Her Husband’s Death on ‘Roseanne,’ Says Actress Lecy Goranson

When Roseanne returned to ABC at the end of March for a nine-episode reboot, fans were delighted to see most of the show’s original cast return to the small screen. But character Becky Conner‘s husband, Mark Healy, was sadly absent from the series because actor Glenn Quinn tragically died at age 32 in 2002 from an accidental heroin overdose.

Though Mark’s death was mentioned in the revival’s premiere episode, actress Lecy Goranson just revealed in a new interview that her character, Becky, “hasn’t really dealt with the pain” of Mark’s passing. “I think of [Becky] as a very strong woman and I feel like she’s gone through a lot. She’s lost her husband and, as America will see in upcoming weeks, that really took a toll on her,” she told Variety.

Mark and Lecy on _Roseanne_.

“Part of how that has manifested is that she hasn’t really dealt with the pain of it. As a result, she’s a little bit of arrested almost to the time where Mark passed away. I really feel like that happens to people. Facing pain is a very hard thing to do. Sometimes the only way we can move forward in life is if we really face some of that sad stuff, you know?” Lecy, 43, continued.

In a previous interview, Roseanne executive producer Bruce Helford opened up about honoring Glenn and his character Mark on the reboot. “From the writing standpoint… when you have a show that’s so naturalistic, we had to deal with that and that Becky was going to be single,” Helford shared. “We all had great affection for Glenn. We really wanted to say something. He comes up a couple times. It isn’t just [the premiere episode]. He comes up a couple times in the course of the nine episodes.”

Actress Roseanne Barr (who plays Roseanne Conner) also spoke out about paying tribute to Glenn on the series. “We all missed Glenn so much, because he was just a great part of the show, and it’s not something we wanted to just gloss over,” she said. Writers also incorporated Mark’s role into the revival’s storyline by naming Becky’s older sister Darlene Conner’s son Mark. “It allowed us to pay tribute to [Glenn] in the show,” Sara Gilbert, who plays Darlene, has said. Roseanne airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.