After booking the role of Reba McEntire‘s daughter on Happy’s Place, Emma Kenney received support — and meaningful advice — from none other than her Shameless costar Steve Howey.
“I was very excited to be a part of Happy’s Place and work with Reba. I worked with Steve Howey for a long time, who also worked with Reba for a long time. So going into it, I gave him a call,” Kenney, 25, exclusively told Us Weekly. “He had nothing but amazing things to say about her and he was not wrong.”
Kenney had “such a great time” working with McEntire, 69, who previously shared the screen with Howey, 47, on the Reba sitcom. “She has such a kind and generous and welcoming energy, which is very special when you’re joining an already established cast to feel like that,” Kenney noted. “So I was very fortunate to have that.”
After sharing the screen with McEntire, Howey went on to star alongside Kenney in Showtime’s hit series Shameless. Howey returned to his roots with a guest role on Happy’s Place earlier this season, which set the scene for a potential onscreen reunion between him and Kenney.
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“I would love to get back onto a set with Steve. He is one of my favorite people and the funniest person,” the actress gushed to Us. “He’s definitely kind of an uncle figure to me. And I would love to do scenes with him and Reba. That would honestly be so much fun.”
For now, Kenney is celebrating the chance to act with McEntire after bringing the role of Gracie to life in the Friday, January 10, episode of NBC’s newest sitcom.
“I definitely felt a lot of responsibility going into this project and playing Reba’s daughter. She’s such an icon and such an established performer,” Kenney continued. “The show had already aired a few episodes when I started shooting. So obviously I watched what I could that was out and tried to prepare in that sense. I definitely wanted to come and try to bring some honor to her daughter’s character.”
Part of Kenney’s preparation meant developing her own take on the character.
“She’s very tough and very no-nonsense. Gracie definitely has a lot of resilience and I’d say determination,” she shared. “But I definitely wanted to bring some heart to her and I wanted the audience to be able to see why she’s got this tough exterior.”
Kenney continued: “I always do a character analysis that I write down. Sometimes I’ll choose a zodiac sign for the character, as kind of strange as that might sound. It gives me a little bit of a point of view for this character. I chose [Gracie] to be a Capricorn. I felt it made sense for her.”
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While Kenney would love to reprise her role as Gracie, she would also love the chance to reunite with former costars — including her Shameless family.
“I miss working with them all. It is always a sad and maybe nostalgic feeling when you wrap a show that you’ve done for years because it’s most likely never going to be the exact same casting crew. Although doing The Conners [on ABC] did give me hope,” she admitted. “In the sense that they literally brought back the entire crew from their original show from the ’80s and ’90s. But I’ve been really fortunate to work with such wonderful people that I’ve really formed strong bonds with. I’d love to get on the set with any of them again.”
Happy’s Place airs on NBC Fridays at 8 p.m. ET.
