Katey Sagal currently recurs as Louise Guldofski, Dan Conner’s (John Goodman) girlfriend, on ABC’s The Conners. The actress, however, is set to star on the network’s upcoming drama series Rebel. So has she left the Roseanne spinoff to focus on her own show?
Casual viewers of The Conners probably thought that Sagal has left the sitcom since it was announced in January 2020 that she would play the lead character in Rebel. But the truth is, Sagal is still part of The Conners and has no plans to exit the show despite landing a series regular role in Rebel.
A month after Rebel scored a 10-episode order from ABC in September 2020, The Conners showrunner Bruce Helford revealed to TVLine that Sagal sent him a note saying that she intends to continue playing Louise on the sitcom while starring in Rebel.
“The first thing that Katey did [after Rebel was picked up to series] was send us an email saying, ‘Do not hire a new girlfriend for Dan — I am not abdicating my role,’” Helford recalled with a laugh, before acknowledging that the actress’ plan to appear on both shows would not be easy.
Helford said at the time that “Rebel starts production in early November [2020, so] it’s going to be tough for her because she’s going to be doing double production. So there will be some conflict. But we’ll work on Saturdays [if we need to]. We intend for Louise to be around all season.”
And that has really been case, as viewers have seen Sagal appeared in The Conners several times since its third season premiered last October, even though filming for Rebel began back in November.
The Conners season 3 saw Louise moving in with Dan and the rest of his family during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a musician who had always been on the road, Louise instantly went from having no family at all to being in a house full of one. Though Louise briefly went back to her place to have some alone time at some point in the season, she mainly stays with Dan and the rest of the Conner clan and has become a fan favorite on the show.
While Sagal is going to be part of the entire third season of The Conners, there’s no official word on yet on whether she’ll be reprising her role in the potential season 4. After all, ABC has yet to renew or cancel the sitcom. But since The Conners has been the network’s highest-rated comedy, there’s little doubt that it will return for another season, hopefully with Sagal.
The Conners season 3 airs every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC. Meanwhile, Rebel, which is inspired by the life of legal clerk and environmental activist Erin Brockovich, is set to premiere on the network on Thursday, April 8th at 10 p.m. ET.