The Conners Star Michael Fishman to Exit Before Season 5
One original star of Rosanne and The Conners is parting ways with the latter series. On Monday, it was revealed (via TVLine) that Michael Fishman will exit the series, ahead of the show's upcoming fifth season. While there are reportedly no current plans for Fishman to return, reports are indicating that the door remains open for him to guest star at a later day. Additionally, TVLine's report reveals that Jayden Rey, who plays Fishman's onscreen daughter Mary, will remain a series regular on the series in Season 5.
Fishman has portrayed DJ Conner since Rosanne's second episode. Across the first four seasons of The Conners, Fishman has appeared in 36 of the show's 71 episodes, and has also directed five episodes.
"I think the general thing when you come back to a character after such a long period, which is what people are experiencing now as we do these remakes, there's this nostalgic kind of stepping through the time warp feeling that is very surreal, especially when you get a very similar set or the exact set as in our case," Fishman explained in an interview with MovieWeb. "And you walk into it and this place you left twenty years ago is brought back to life and your stepping in it and everything is right back and you're in these same relationships again. I think that's such a unique experience. But mine, I think, is a little different from almost everybody else. And the reason I say that is, particularly on our show, I was a kid when we left. I was fifteen. And so, my life is so radically different, and my character's life is so radically different, that it's really about studying where he was and who he was, and then trying to decide who he would be now and what you would want him to be."
"In my case, all the other characters were fleshed out and had clearly defined relationships," Fishman continued. "And DJ. We got to meet him in a whole new place. We got to meet him as an adult. And we got to meet him after having served in the military, and this whole process of his life. And having a child. And being in all these dynamic relationships. You know, he's in an interracial marriage and he has a biracial child. He's a veteran that's trying to get back to civilian life. His spouse is currently deployed and is in the military. So all of that as a framework and a backdrop is such a rich combination, but it requires me to really know. Because we initially talked about PTSD and we talked about him going to see a therapist, so there are times where he was a little frustrated or a little short or a little angry. Or there were times that I had to really draw on his old kind of humor and that kind of that playful spirit and that heart. So trying to find the two is a really complex thing, and we've done a really good job."
Season 5 of The Conners will see the return of John Goodman as Dan, Laurie Metcalf as Jackie, Sara Gilbert as Darlene, Lecy Goranson as Becky, Emma Kenney as Harris, Ames McNamara as Mark, Rey as Mary, Jay R. Ferguson as Ben, and Katey Sagal as Louise.
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The Conners will return with new episodes on Wednesday, Sept. 21 at its new time, 8/7c.