'The Conners' Stars Sara Gilbert, Laurie Metcalf Talk About Their 'Grief' and Relationship Status with Roseanne Barr

"The Conners" stars Laurie Metcalf and Sara Gilbert said they haven't heard back from Roseanne Barr yet while opening up about their "grief" over the cancellation of "Roseanne" that spilled over into production of the spinoff series.

"Sara and I had this scene in the first show where we addressed the grief," Metcalf told People. "Sometimes when you're an actor and you have to go to that place, you substitute something, but in this case there was no need to do that, because it was there. And it was real. And still makes me choke up, because that part of it's been really hard."

The new ABC sitcom, which premieres in a few short weeks, was announced by the network following Barr getting the ax after she wrote a racist tweet regarding a former Barack Obama White House adviser.

The new leading ladies of the beloved sitcom family representing middle America are grateful to Barr for allowing the show to continue without any involvement. Gilbert, who plays Roseanne Conner's daughter, hopes the cast's sadness over her character's departure will be conveyed into the show "in an honest way."

"Our show has always been able to deal with heavy topics, particularly for a sitcom," she said. "It's been kind of built into the mix."

Although it's still unconfirmed how Roseanne will be written out of the show, the Barr recently said she thinks her character will be killed off via an opioid overdose.

ABC dropped the first promo for the spinoff earlier this week. Although Barr's character isn't mentioned in the teaser, we see how the Conner family is moving on without her, especially during the holiday season.

John Goodman -- the actor who plays Roseanne's husband Dan Conner -- previously said he hasn't heard back from Barr either since the cancellation and is hopeful "Roseanne" fans will tune into to see what see how the sitcom family reacts "to what's missing." According to him, "everything else is pretty much the same."

"There was a debt owed to this fictional family," he added. "We want to finish telling this story."

The actor told People he struggled after the cancellation spurred by the uproar over Barr's tweet.

"I was consciously trying to accept it," Goodman said. "Just like, 'Okay, this is happening, just breathe and go with it.' Underneath I'm trying to get out of a plastic bag that is closing in on me, but I'm trying to be calm on the surface. I remember that contradiction."

But Goodman also said he "had a feeling" things would work out, and we'll see if audiences embrace the sitcom family again when "The Conners" premieres Tuesday, October 16 at 8/7c on ABC.

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