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David's The Conners Season 7 Absence Gets Worse After This Shock Johnny Galecki News

Published

3 weeks ago

20th April 2025

The Conners is missing a few notable faces as it ends its run, but David’s absence just became much worse after a new Johnny Galecki update. After 7 years, the Roseanne spinoff sequel is looking to wrap up its run. With only a couple of episodes left, big lingering plot lines are starting to be tied up. However, not only is it ending its time on broadcast, it is also ending the Roseanne franchise, likely for good. With a long history to pull from, the expectation was that The Conners season 7 would lean on nostalgia by bringing familiar faces back.

Roseanne’s death was the catalyst to the events of The Conners. Because the Roseanne revival was so popular, ABC had to find a way to continue the show after firing Roseanne Barr. The result was The Conners, which was a gamble that paid off, considering its success. Despite the rebrand, the franchise’s major continuity beats were maintained, allowing the project to bring back Estelle Parsons’ Bev, Natalie West’s Crystal, and David — despite his split with Darlene. However, none of them are slated to appear in The Conners season 7, which is disappointing, especially after Galecki recently resurfaced.

David Is Not Appearing In The Conners Season 7 Because Of Johnny Galecki’s Semi-Retirement

Galecki Hasn’t Starred In Any Project After The Big Bang Theory

For context, co-executive Bruce Helford had previously confirmed that The Conners season 7 would not feature David, and it wasn’t because they didn’t want to. The writers supposedly have an exciting story to re-incorporate Jackie’s ex-husband, but because of Galecki’s semi-retirement, they are unable to do it. For context, since The Big Bang Theory ended in 2019, the actor has chosen to live life outside the spotlight, which is totally understandable. That being said, it’s also justified that it stings not to see David again in The Conners, especially since he needs closure with Mark and Harris.

Galecki’s Return Makes David’s Absence In The Conners Season 7 More Odd

Kaley Cuoco Teams Up With Galecki In A Surprising Way

Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hoftstadter in The Big Bang Theory

Recently, however, Galecki made an unexpected return, albeit in an unusual way. Instead of a proper project, he starred in an online game app advertisement alongside former The Big Bang Theory co-star, Kaley Cuoco. Prior to the release of the spot online, there was no indication that the pair had teamed-up for it, as both didn’t even tease it before the spot was posted on their respective social media accounts. While Galecki has the right to pursue whatever endeavor he wants to, the timing of the advertisement has made David’s absence in The Conners much worse.

Custom image of Roseanne laughing in Roseanne season 10 and Darlene scowling in The Conners

The Conners Effectively Confirms Its Official Roseanne Replacement, And It Makes A Lot Of Sense

Roseanne will always be an important part of its story, but The Conners has no choice but to replace him, and frankly, ABC’s choice makes sense.

Somehow, Helford’s explanation for the character not returning isn’t as strong anymore. Admittedly, there may have been other factors that had Galecki say yes to the advertisement but not the ABC sitcom, including it potentially having a shorter filming period. That said, given that The Conners season 7 only has 6 episodes in total, it’s difficult to imagine that he would have to appear in all of them. At most, he would likely be in a 3-episode arc, much like all of its guest stars. If not, he could have at least been in 1.