The Conners Break the Fourth Wall in Touching, Unscripted Series Ending Surprise

While Roseanne Barr has not been a part of the series that she began for some time now, her shadow has loomed large over this shortened final season and its storyline pushing husband Dan (John Goodman) to sue the pharmaceutical company behind the opioid addiction that killed her.

That story came to an end in the most appropriate way for this family, but that wasn't the moment that people will remember. Instead, it was the tears around the living room that didn't quite fit the scene -- but definitely spoke to the moment.

37 years as the same characters -- albeit with a hefty break in the middle -- is nothing to flinch at, and the emotions of this final moment in front of the cameras and with this television family proved too much for the cast.

"We felt a tremendous responsibility to get this right," executive producer Dave Caplan told Variety. That included keeping the cameras rolling as the cast went somewhat off-script in the taping for their final scene together.

He also said that this was a very intentional non-ending sort of finale, where life for the Conners simply goes on. "It has a certain legacy of being a little bit closer to the bone, a little bit more honest," he said of the show and its predecessor, Roseanne. "We weren’t going to betray that at the end."

"So we didn’t want to do a, you know, ‘Turn out the lights and lock the door’ kind of ending to it. We know the family goes on, but we wanted to leave them all in a place that felt like they could conceivably be there," he continued. "And that the arrows for all of them were pointing up, and saying goodbye to one member of the family."

That goodbye played out literally, too, as the final episode saw Dan learning that he was going to receive a check from the pharmaceutical company after an emotional battle with their legal team over just who is responsible for Roseanne's overdose death.

And so, when the check arrived, Dan gathered the family at Roseanne's grave to open it together. And in true Conners fashion, it was not the life-changing sum they were maybe hoping for, nor did the company even take responsibility. Instead, they gave Dan $700 because of the love and devotion he shows to his wife.

Dan quipped that they "wondered how much a Conners’ life is worth and now we know."

What followed was a summing up to Roseanne from each cast member as they shared that for now, in this moment, they are happy.

"Hey, Mom, I'm still sober. Can you believe it? And my psychology degree is really paying off. I got an incredible job. Oh, and I met a great guy, a little needy, but great," said eldest daughter Becky (Lecy Goranson), referring to Tyler (Sean Astin) and a new position utilizing her psychology degree.

Younger sister Darlene (Sara Gilbert) told her mom she was doing "what I thought you would do for the family." She went on to note, "It's not fair that you were here for the hard part and you didn't get to see that. Things turned out okay," she added, "Hey, for us, not for regular people." She and Ben (Jay R. Ferguson) also had a long overdue talk about their marriage and agreed to prioritize one another again.

Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) showed off her police uniform after she managed to get back on the force, and found love with new husband Nevill (Nat Faxon) and told her sister she's "really happy now. I know you didn't think that that was possible, but I figured it out."

Dan wrapped up the family updates for the late matriarch, telling his beloved wife, "Well, Rose, we always said if kids were still alive at the end of the day, we did our job. I think we get better than that," adding, "I still can't believe you're not here."

He went on to say, "know you want a good thing for me too, and probably didn't include Louise (Katey Sagal), but if you meet anybody, wherever you are, I'm cool with it."

Darlene's kids came out okay, too, with Harris (Emma Kenney) now owning the Lunchbox and happy with her boyfriend Riley (Stony Blyden), while Mark (Ames McNamara) turned his hacking passion into a career when he took a cyber security training program in New York toward a job in technology.

As for Dan's big winnings, he ordered out food for the family. Together in their iconic home at the end, he told his family, "Going through all this reminds me that no matter how much crap life throws at us, all we got to do is look around, because if we hang together, nothing could stop us."

The family then said their goodbyes to one another, but it was clear this was no ordinary goodbye. In story, they'd probably be seeing each other the next day. But the actors knew this was something bigger than that, as tears began to pour.

"Laurie went first," said executive producer Bruce Helford. "When Laurie said her goodbye, it was clearly not the goodbye of somebody who just had pizza and was gonna see you tomorrow."

"So when she went there, they all realized in that moment that this is the last time we’re going to say goodbye to each other on this stage, in this show, as these characters. And they all broke up," he continued. "We left it in, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before on TV, where you break the fourth wall to see what the actors are really feeling."

In the final moment, Goodman gave a deep look into the camera and gave a final "goodnight" to the audience that's laughed and cried with them all these years. The series ended with a montage of clips through the years, though none of those featured Roseanne herself.

Dan's final moment into the camera wasn't in the script, either, with fellow EP Bruce Rasmussen admitting, "It jolted us when he did it. It’s like, oh man, that was good. It was one of those moments." Helford said it was Goodman's idea to do it, and he'd pitched it to the crew.

"I think [Goodman] just felt that was the right way to say goodbye, and acknowledge the bond, because the audience is part of that show," Caplan told The New York Post. "We are so much connected to the audience; we’re not just an entertainment. It’s been a family for 37 years."

"He felt the bond of all those years with the audience. And I think just as a decent guy, his instinct was to say ‘thank you,'" Helford agreed. "How do you argue with that?”

It also wasn't the final take for that scene, with others staying more true to the script, but Rasmussen said they decided to go with the one that had the most emotional response while filming.

Caplan explained, "They earned that moment ... we’ve always tried to be really honest with our audience. It was just such an honest moment that it was irresistible to put it on."

As for saying goodbye to this character after 37 years, Goodman admitted, "It’s really hard. It’s something I’m going to miss for a while," he told People, quipping, "I’m old and resistant to change."

The original Roseanne was a ratings and critical smash for ABC when it aired from 1988 to 1997, save for a controversial final season that saw Dan die and Roseanne win the lottery -- all of that was explained away when the series was revived in 2018, with Helford laughing to TV Line that one motivation for the revival was "to get rid of that stupid lottery."

Barr herself was booted from the new series -- which was again a hit -- after just one season after some controversial social media posts. She made the decision, however, to let the show continue without her. It was rebranded as The Conners the next year and would continue under that name for seven seasons.

Barr has had no involvement in the reboot, and has made some scathing comments about the creative decision to kill her character off. She did not appear in this finale, either, even in archival footage. Also notably missing was youngest son DJ (Michael Fishman) who left The Conners after Season 4.

While the Conners story may be over, fans can still relive four decades of laughter (and tears) with 222 episodes of the original series, 9 episodes of the revival season, and 112 more episodes of The Conners. That's a lot of time in Lanford, Illinois!