Steve Howey is the latest Reba alum to join the Happy’s Place cast — but he won’t be the last.
Howey, 47, has officially signed on to guest star on the upcoming NBC series, which features his former costars Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman. According to TVLine, Howey is playing a newcomer named Danny and is sharing scenes with Peterman’s character Gabby.
“One of the arcs for [Peterman’s] character Gabby is that she thinks she wants to have a baby,” series creator Kevin Abbott told the outlet on Thursday, October 10, about how Danny will turn out to be a “potential sperm donor” in the scenario.
Abbott is “hoping” Howey’s character “can come back” in the future after arriving in the Christmas episode of Happy’s Place titled “Ho-Ho-Howey.” There are also ongoing plans to cast even more Reba alums on Happy’s Place.
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“It’s a lot of fun. We absolutely want to bring some of the old cast members on — and in very different roles than what they played on Reba,” Abbott, who was an executive producer on Reba when it aired on The WB between 2001 and 2007, added. “Steve’s our first one up, and we’re trying to figure out how to bring JoAnna [Garcia Swisher] in. We only want to have the old cast in if we can really utilize them in a fun, impactful way.”
Created by Abbott, Happy’s Place follows Bobbie (McEntire) as she inherits her father’s restaurant and discovers a new business partner in the half-sister (Belissa Escobedo) who she didn’t know she had. Peterman, 53, plays a bartender at the restaurant while McEntire’s boyfriend, Rex Linn, also appears as tavern cook Emmett. The cast is rounded out with Tokala Black Elk and Pablo Castelblanco.
Happy’s Place reunites McEntire, 69, and Peterman more than 17 years after Reba ended its run on The WB. Reba followed “a single mom who worked too hard, who loved her kids and never stopped.” After her husband Brock (Christopher Rich) left her for his dental hygienist Barbra Jean (Peterman), Reba attempted to start fresh while raising her three kids — including her pregnant teen daughter (Swisher) and her boyfriend (Howey).
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McEntire and Peterman previously reunited on CMT’s Working Class, Freeform’s Baby Daddy and Lifetime’s The Hammer. Fans might have also noticed that McEntire and Peterman were both recurring cast members on CBS’ Young Sheldon but never acted alongside each other. (Linn, 67, appeared on the Big Bang Theory spinoff as well.)
“[Reuniting with Melissa] was like riding a bike — there was a muscle memory. But we haven’t been apart ever since 2006 when Reba ended,” McEntire exclusively told Us Weekly for an October cover story. “There have been lots of times where she was out on tour with me opening the show for me — coming out and doing a bit in the middle of my concert. Fans love it.”
McEntire reflected on the impact Reba still has on viewers, adding, “People related to it because there are many in that situation across the United States — teen pregnancy, moving in with mom, challenging things happening. But primarily, it’s the heart of it. It was funny, clever, mischievous, dorky, but it had a lot of heart.”
Happy’s Place premieres Friday, October 18, at 8 pm on NBC.
