Darlene’s Beau Ben Now A Series Regular on ABC’s The Conners

ABC’s family comedy The Conners has a twist coming up in the Conner household.

Jay R. Ferguson, who plays Darlene’s boyfriend Ben, is now a series regular for season three. The third season of The Conners is premiering on October 21.

As fans would know, at the end of season two, Darlene and Ben had decided to live together in the Conner house to help keep it afloat financially.

Jay’s elevation in status on the series could be a direct result of this new development. According to comments made by Brad Helford earlier this year on the possibility of Ben having a bigger role in the comedy, he dropped hints of the same.

“It hasn’t really come up yet. Jay and Sara [Gilbert] have a long history. They were buddies since they were teenagers. And their chemistry is so freakin’ good. We didn’t know [the Darlene/Ben romance] was going to be long-term.”

Brad Helford

“We actually had plans at one point for her to be thinking about somebody else and kind of blowing this relationship up. But as we watched them we [realized] you can’t get much better than the way they act with each other because they’re two alphas going at it. And there’s a genuine affection between them in real-life.”

Brad Helford

Meanwhile, a recurring member of the cast is likely to seen less.

Played by  Katey Sagal, who has just signed on to another ABC show Rebel, the character is the girlfriend of patriarch Dan Conner (John Goodman) on the series.

The Conners returns to ABC with its third season on October 21.

Are you a fan of The Conners? What do you think about this development? Comment below and let us know.