JoAnna García Swisher is the last Reba alum who hasn’t appeared on NBC’s Happy’s Place — but it could happen sooner rather than later.
“I cannot wait to go shake it up over there with them,” Swisher, 45, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting her partnership with Ziploc. “Steve Howey has already done it, and Chris Rich has done it.”
Swisher, who played Cheyenne on Reba, is excited at the chance to reunite with former costars Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman on their NBC series Happy’s Place.
“This is my family. We are all so very close, but getting the opportunity to slide back into a sitcom stage with all of them would be so exciting,” she teased to Us ahead of the show’s second season. “I would not be surprised if that was in the very near future.”
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Happy’s Place, which premiered in October 2024, brought McEntire, 70, and Peterman, 54, back together more than 17 years after their hit series Reba ended its six-year run on The WB. Reba also starred Scarlett Pomers and Mitch Holleman, both of whom have yet to make a cameo on NBC’s sitcom.
Swisher’s update on her plans to make an appearance come two months after McEntire told Us Swisher is “definitely” next.
“JoAnna is so busy. She’s producing, she’s got three movies and she’s [working on] Sweet Magnolias. So she is a very busy lady but she said she’d definitely be there,” McEntire exclusively confirmed to Us. “Melissa Peterman, JoAnna and Steve Howey have been very busy. To get to bring Steve in already for our Christmas episode and to bring Chris [Rich] back in — that was the most special.”
Swisher said it was “really fun” to see Howey and Rich’s appearances in season 1. While reflecting on Reba’s legacy, Swisher called it “one of the greatest gifts” of her career.
“We got an opportunity to be a part of a show that becomes a part of people’s lives. That show was monumental for me personally and professionally. I have such fond memories but I also learned so much and I got to learn from Reba and just how she navigates life — as a business woman, as a creative, as a mom, all of the things,” she gushed. “She was just really inspiring and still to this day. But it’s informed so much of my life. It was such a beautiful time in all of our lives and the fact that we are all still so closely connected [is] a testament to that. I just don’t think that comes around very often.”
JoAnna, who shares two daughters with husband Nick Swisher, has gotten to take a stroll down memory lane now that her kids are watching the show.
“They think it’s weird that I have blonde hair because they don’t know me any differently than as a redhead. But it’s just really fun and that’s what makes great TV. It just withstands the test of time,” she told Us. “They saw it on Netflix, and it’s also on cable, like, a hundred times a day.”
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In addition to spending time rewatching Reba with her kids, JoAnna has partnered up with Ziploc to help show families across North America that food preservation doesn’t have to be complicated by sharing fresh tips for a smarter lunch routine.
“Ziploc is very much a part of our daily lives, and it was really fun. We care a lot about food waste in our family. We talk about that a lot. I was really excited to share the ways that we try to minimize food waste in our lives,” she explained. “My kids are getting older and they have a lot of opinions about their lunches. All of that is really centered around our Ziploc bags.”
JoAnna broke down her approach, adding, “We create these little prep stations so we have just little ways to make life a little easier in the morning. Then I don’t open up a lunchbox at the end of the day that is filled with food. I’m always looking for ways to make sure that my girls are getting well-balanced, healthy lunches and I love good organization and making things easy, and Ziploc helps with all of those.”
She concluded: “Even for me, right now I’m working on season 5 of Sweet Magnolias, and I take a lunchbox to work because I’m always nibbling on things and wanting to have healthy, quick things. I’m always dipping into our little bin of snacks that make grab-and-go easy and help keep things fresher longer. It makes it easy and everything looks good too.”
