The Conners EPs Tease The 'Oh S-T!' Return Of An OG Roseanne Character: Viewers Will Be 'Very Surprised'

The Conners has a big surprise in store for longtime fans.

Speaking to TVLine ahead of the Wednesday, Sept. 21 premiere, executive producers Bruce Helford and Dave Caplan let slip that a character last seen on Roseanne is poised to make their first appearance on the ABC spinoff in Season 5.

"I can't reveal it, but there is someone coming from years' past," Helford teased. After a slight pause to determine just how much he wanted to reveal, he added: "It was a very memorable appearance when this person was there, and this person is coming back." He also suggested not to overthink his use of the word "appearance." (Hmm...)

"I think people are going to be very surprised and go, 'Oh s–t!'" Helford said. "It's someone who will very much be remembered from the previous show."

Added Caplan: "It's one that the true fans are really going to appreciate."

Asked if they could point us in the direction of when this character first appeared on Roseanne, Helford suggested that we look "way back to the beginning" — but given that Roseanne and The Conners have run a collective 14 seasons (and counting), "beginning" doesn't necessarily mean that he or she appeared in the very first season. That said, it's probably not a character introduced late in the series' original 1988-1997 run.

So, who might it be? Since 2018's Roseanne revival, we've had appearances by Sarah Chalke (not as Becky No. 2, but as Andrea), Judy Prescott (as schoolteacher Ms. Crane), Estelle Parsons (as Bev), Sandra Bernhard (as Nancy), Natalie West (as Crystal), Adilah Barnes (as Anne Marie), Johnny Galecki (as David), James Pickens Jr. (as Chuck), Meagan Fay (not as Kathy Bowman, but as the grandmother of Mark's classmate Austin), Noel Fisher (who assumed the role of Ed Jr., last seen as a baby) and Danielle Harris (as Molly).

We can also rule out Roseanne and Dan's fourth child Jerry, and Jackie and Fred's son Andy — neither of whom exists, as far as The Conners is concerned. Plus, neither of them was around "way back in the beginning."

Scroll down to review our list of potential returnees — we limited all but one of our picks to characters who appeared within the first five seasons of Roseanne — then hit the comments with your predictions.

The Wellman Plastics foreman (and Jackie's onetime love interest) was last referenced in The Conners' Season 3 opener, when the spinoff flashed back to Roseanne Season 1, Episode 8: "Lovers' Lanes."

The ex-Wellman worker was last seen in Roseanne Season 2.

Crystal's son appeared sporadically throughout Roseanne's first six seasons, but he was not referenced when his stepfather Ed Sr. died (off screen) during The Conners Season 2. Ed Jr. did, however, reference their younger sister Angela, who was still an infant in Roseanne Season 6.

Becky's first boyfriend appeared in three episodes during Season 1.

Becky's second boyfriend also appeared in three episodes, during Season 2.

Roseanne Barr's then-husband recurred in Seasons 2-5 — and for a brief period was married to Sandra Bernhard's Nancy.

Roseanne's former employer appeared in four episodes during Season 2, after Roxanne—err, Roseanne and Jackie left the plastics plant.

Dan's free-spirited biker friend, last seen in Roseanne's Season 3 finale, left him the money he needed to open his bike shop.

Jackie's first long-term boyfriend was also good friends with Dan in Season 3. But after Jackie, then a police officer, was injured in the line of duty and refused to quit her job, the couple broke up.

Originally Roseanne's manager at Rodbell's Luncheonette, Leon went on to become co-owner of The Lunch Box. He was last seen in Season 9, when lottery winners Roseanne and Jackie turned their shares of The Lunch Box over to Leon and Nancy, but the events of that season have since been retconned, and he has not resurfaced since The Lunch Box's grand reopening in The Conners Season 2.

Roseanne's coworker at Rodbell's was last seen in Season 4, when the luncheonette went out of business.

After the Bowmans moved out, the Tildens moved in next door. Though Danielle Harris' Molly died of brain cancer in Season 3 of The Conners, her father Ty and sister Charlotte (not pictured) have not been seen on the spinoff.

Unlike her son Andy, Jackie's first husband has not been erased from existence. Following Jackie's recent wedding to Louise's brother Neville, TVLine asked the EPs about Fred, who appeared in Seasons 6-8 of the original series. "I think the idea of her having had Fred in her life [remains]," Helford said. "The kid is not part of our universe. It's a multiverse, as you know. The Roseanne multiverse. You never know when we'll slip into another universe and find someone else."