Christopher Lloyd is set to reprise his character from Roseanne on The Conners season 4. The Conners is the third iteration of the series Roseanne, which originally aired for 9 seasons on ABC between 1988 and 1997. The show revolved around the lives of Roseanne Conner (Roseanne Barr) and her family and was celebrated for centering on a blue-collar family unlike many other sitcoms of the day. The show was eventually revived for season 10 in March 2018, but Barr was fired in May after making racist comments on Twitter. In June, the network made the decision to continue the series without Roseanne, rebranding Roseanne as The Conners and focusing on the remaining family members, premiering the new series that October.
Lloyd originated the character of Lou on an episode of the short-lived Roseanne season 10. The episode, titled “No Country for Old Women,” follows Roseanne and Jackie as they decide who their mother Bev (Estelle Parsons) should come and live with. When they arrive to retrieve their mom, they discover that she is dating Lou, which of course leads to some wacky hijinks.
Per Deadline, Lloyd will be reprising the role of Lou in an upcoming episode of The Conners season 4. The episode, which will air on May 4, 2022, will be titled “The Best Laid Plans, A Contrabassoon and A Sinking Feeling.” Although Parsons has appeared on six episodes of The Conners, Lloyd won’t be appearing as her scene partner this time. Instead, he’ll be taking on the role of contrabassoon tutor for Mark (Ames McNamara). Lou’s aggressive nature rubs Mark the wrong way, forcing Dan (John Goodman) to step in.
In addition to this somewhat surprising reappearance, the episode will largely focus on Darlene, who is still dealing with construction. The episode summary somewhat elliptically describes her as having a serious accident, which will lead her to make a monumental decision. While the show is hesitant to spoil the exact nature of this plotline, it seems that Lloyd will be stepping back into the show at a major turning point.
It makes sense why Lloyd has chosen to come back to The Conners right now, rather than in an earlier season. The 83-year-old actor is experiencing something of a career resurgence at the moment. Although he has been acting consistently since his career began in the mid-’70s, the iconic performer has been prepping several projects that are much bigger than his recent character roles, including a stint on The Mandalorian season 3 and a role opposite Rachael Leigh Cook in a horror film based on the Spirit Halloween store, so an appearance on a big network sitcom is certainly the right way to get the ball rolling again properly.
