The gang’s getting back together.
Ahead of the Oct. 18 premiere of Happy’s Place — the new sitcom starring Reba McIntire and her Reba costar Melissa Peterman — series creator Kevin Abbott revealed to TV Line that another Reba alumnus will be appearing on the series: Steve Howey.
According to a synopsis provided to PEOPLE by NBC, Howey will play Danny, “a wealthy business owner that Gabby (Peterman) has met at a dog park. In order to impress him, Gabby has pretended to be Bobbie (McEntire) because she thinks that will make her more interesting … that is, until he wants to hold his holiday party at the tavern.”
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“We’re hoping that Steve’s character can come back,” Abbott added to TV Line, but noted right now Howey is slated for just one episode of Happy’s Place.
On Reba, Howey, now 47, played Reba Hart’s son-in-law Van Montgomery, who marries her daughter Cheyenne (JoAnna Garcia Swisher) after she becomes pregnant as a teen. The beloved series ran from 2001 to 2007 and also starred Christopher Rich, Scarlett Pomers and Mitch Holleman.
“We absolutely want to bring some of the old cast members on — and in very different roles than what they played on Reba,” Abbott shared with TV Line. “Steve’s our first one up, and we’re trying to figure out how to bring JoAnna in. We only want to have the old cast in if we can really utilize them in a fun, impactful way.”
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On Happy’s Place, McEntire, 69, stars as Bobbie, who inherits her father’s titular tavern. She’s surprised to find out she has a half-sister, played by Blue Beetle star Belissa Escobedo, who is also her business partner. Peterman, 53, plays a bartender, while McEntire’s real-life boyfriend Rex Linn, 67, plays the tavern’s chef.
Meanwhile Garcia Swisher, 45, told PEOPLE in July she would be happy to appear on Happy’s Place. “A hundred percent, I would do the show,” she said. “But more importantly, I’m just excited to go watch the show because I am really excited for all of them. It’s going to be great.”
McEntire and Peterman spoke to PEOPLE about their new series on the Emmys red carpet back in September.
“I think that the chemistry that we have, that dynamic, it’s there, so we’re bringing that to Happy’s Place,” Peterman said. “We have new characters, it’s a new situation, so the chemistry is still there. It’s that same dynamic that people want to see. We talked about it, that we’ve been waiting a long time, and this time feels right. It feels like we were waiting for the right cast, the right time, and we’re ready.”
McEntire joked about their reunion, “When we were auditioning everybody she happened to be at the front of the line, I don’t know why she was.”
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Peterman told PEOPLE earlier this month that McEntire and Linn, who began dating in 2020, are “adorable” on set together. “We’re taking a five-minute break or we’re having breakfast or lunch and you look over and we have a bar set — it takes place at Happy’s Place — and you look over and they’re in a booth at the bar,” she said. “And it looks like they’re legitimately on a date at a restaurant just sitting together being so adorably cute.”
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