Darlene's husband isn't a part of the new season of 'Roseanne' — here's why

Fans of Roseanne were disappointed upon learning that David, Darlene's husband, wouldn't be part of the new season, but the show revealed why he left.

On April 17, 2018, in the fifth episode, titled 'Darlene v. David', Johnny Galecki, the actor who portrays David, made a crucial and meaningful guest appearance.

As reported by Pop Culture, during the episode, David let Darlene known that he would be in town for their daughter Harris' birthday, but the news left her quite upset.

Roseanne points out that she should be happy for her daughter because she would get to see her father after all the time that has passed. Darlene wasn't convinced.

She argued that David's promises were worth nothing and that he had disappointed Harris' a good number of times in the past by not showing up and leaving her waiting for him.

Although Darlene had reasons to be suspicious of David's promises, the truth is that Roseanne kept in contact with David ever since he left Lanford many years ago.

Later on, it is revealed that David spent most of his time traveling around the world and building homes for people in third world countries. Still, this didn't soften Darlene's heart one bit.

She called David's volunteer work 'Deadbeats Without Borders,' which made Roseanne step in and say that, although he failed as a husband, he didn't fail as a father.

David confessed that he felt guilty for leaving his family behind but rationalized by tricking himself into believing that he was doing the right thing: helping people in need.

He also told Darlene that he ran away from his responsibilities because he couldn't deal with them after the death of his brother, Mark. Realizing that they wouldn't succeed as a couple, both agreed on a divorce.

David and Darlene didn't want the constant fighting to be a part of Harris' life, so they decided that the most civil and grown-up choice would be to co-parent their children.