'The Conners' cast promises show won't 'ignore the past' after Roseanne Barr's firing

The Conners are ready to move forward.

Ahead of Tuesday night's premiere of the ABC spinoff of Roseanne, which was canceled abruptly earlier this year following star and producer Roseanne Barr's racist tweets, castmembers Sara Gilbert, John Goodman, Lecy Goranson, Laurie Metcalf, Emma Kenney, Maya Lynne Robinson, Ames McNamara and Michael Fishman are reassuring fans that things won't feel all that unfamiliar as the family moves forward.

"We have been through so much this spring and summer," admitted Goranson, "so to be back together again is such a blessing."

"The cast, certainly, and then a lot of the crew are people that are from the very original run, starting 30 years ago," Gilbert explained. "We felt like we had so many more stories to tell, that I felt like it would be a shame to not give that to people."

"The reason the Conners have kept together as a family is because of laughter and love. It's true," Goodman shared. "There's a lot of love around here and a lot of love on the show. And a lot of laughter."

Of course, even with all the familiar faces, it goes without saying that the absence of the Conners' longtime matriarch will be felt, at the very least, in the show's debut episode.

"I'm assuming that people will be curious about the first one," Metcalf acknowledged. "And then hopefully they'll feel like they're in good hands with the family."

"The show is not ignoring the past at all," Kenney explained. "It's just moving forward and continuing to evolve."

"There's definitely things we're doing that we obviously haven't explored before, because the dynamics are shifting this time," Gilbert shared. "So different characters step into different roles."

The Conners airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.