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Johnny Galecki and Sara Gilbert’s ‘Roseanne’ Characters’ Split Had to Do With Late Glenn Quinn’s Character’s Death
If you've been wondering where Darlene Conner's husband, David Healy, has been on the new Roseanne reboot, wonder no more! Johnny Galecki returned to the revival to reprise his character during the Tuesday, April 17 episode of the sitcom, and fans got a lot of answers.
Though Darlene (played by Sara Gilbert) and David are no longer a married couple on the updated storyline (hence why Darlene moved home with Roseanne and Dan), they are parents to two children together — a teenage daughter named Harris Conner-Healy and a 10-year-old son named Mark Conner-Healy. And in the highly-anticipated episode, we finally got to see the former couple reunite when David made a surprise return for Harris' birthday party after being estranged from his family for years.
During his stay, we also learned why they actually split in the first place. So it turns out, David left Darlene because of his late brother, Mark, who was played by the late actor Glenn Quinn. "When I left you and the kids, I rationalized that it was OK because I was helping people," he said of his new job building houses for poor people in other countries. "The truth is? I left because my brother died and I was overwhelmed with all the responsibility and I just ran. When I was out there, I was ashamed."
David's admission about why he left came the morning after the couple shared an akward kiss after an even more awkward conversation when he first arrived. During their first interaction, Mark told Darlene about how he met someone else, but Darlene confessed she doesn't know how she feels about him and isn't sure if she wants a divorce. "I've heard it before, David. You miss me, you want to get back together, then as soon as things get real you run back to Deadbeats Without Borders," Darlene said to Johnny the moment he returned, to which he replied, "Not this time."
He proceeded to tell Darlene that he "realized it's not too late to fix things," so he's moving back to Lanford. However, not necessarily to be with her. He (heartbreakingly) admited that he has met someone else. We still can't get over the sad look in Darlene's eyes when she hears he's "learned so much" from this new woman named Blue…
But their "marriage reconciliation" convo about why he left came after he told her about Blue, and it was during that time when they decided they would "work things out."
However, during a recent interview, Johnny revealed he's only appearing on one episode of the Roseanne reboot, but now that the show has been renewed for an 11th season, the 42-year-old actor would love to return to shoot more scenes (he'll have to if they're really getting back together!). "If they come back next year for another eight or nine I would love to do more than one next year," he told Variety.
Johnny has also gushed that returning for the Roseanne reboot was "emotional" and like a fun high-school reunion. "It was just one of the best weeks of my life. It was very, very emotional. It was kind of like what I would imagine going to your 20-year high school reunion was, but all the people are like still your heroes," he said. We hope David appears in more Roseanne episodes in Season 11!
