AceShowbiz - John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, and Sara Gilbert have reunited to start work on the new Roseanne spin-off, following the controversy surrounding former leading lady Roseanne Barr.

The comedienne's revived TV sitcom was cancelled in May after she attacked Valerie Jarrett, one of former U.S. President Barack Obama's top aides, in an ill-advised social media post, in which she suggested the African-American woman was the product of the "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes (sic)".

Barr apologised, but it wasn't enough to save the show, which had only just returned to the small screen, 21 years after it originally ended.

Following the scandal, Barr relinquished her rights to the franchise as writers and producers reworked the storyline for a spin-off, titled The Conners, focusing on the rest of the TV family.

On Friday, August 31, ABC network executives released the first photo of the cast on the new set, as production officially got underway.

The image featured Goodman, Metcalf, and Gilbert sitting around a kitchen table with co-stars Michael Fishman, Lecy Goranson, Jayden Rey, Ames McNamara, and Emma Kenney.

TV bosses also announced The Conners will premiere in the U.S. on 16 October.

Few details about the revamped plot have been revealed, but Goodman, who played Barr's onscreen husband Dan, recently suggested her original title character would be killed off.

Asked what Dan's motivation would be in the new spin-off, he told The Sunday Times, "It's an unknown. I guess he'll be mopey and sad because his wife's dead."