Reba McEntire is working on a new sitcom — and she’s thrilled that it will feature her boyfriend.
NBC announced on Tuesday, May 7, that The Voice judge, 69, will star in a new series titled Happy’s Place. McEntire previously starred in her self-titled Reba series from 2001 to 2007 on the WB and CW networks.
“We have been working on trying to get another show since we were canceled on the Reba show,” McEntire told Entertainment Tonight in an interview published Wednesday, May 8. “We got to do Malibu Country for one season. We’ve got the same producers, same showrunner, same writers, and now we’re back with Melissa Peterman and Rex Linn, my boyfriend, and wonderful, wonderful cast and crew.”
Linn, 67, will be playing the role of the short order cook.
“He is kind of the patriarch now that [the character’s] daddy has died. ‘Cause he has been with the tavern the longest,” McEntire explained to ET.
The couple initially met on the set of Kenny Rogers’ 1991 film, The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw. They reunited three decades later in 2020 when they worked together on Young Sheldon, and their chemistry was electric. McEntire told E! News last month that they’ve been “pretty much inseparable” since that reunion.
Peterman, 52, starred in the Reba series as Barbra Jean Hart, who married the fictional Reba’s ex-husband, Brock Hart. In Happy’s Place, she will portray Gabby, a bartender at a new restaurant opened by McEntire’s character.
McEntire and Peterman also appeared together in Young Sheldon, Working Class, The Hammer and Baby Daddy.
The country music legend will serve as executive producer of her new series. She will star as Bobbie, who inherits her father’s restaurant following his death. She soon discovers that her business partner in the endeavor is a half-sister she never knew she had.
Hocus Pocus 2 star Belissa Escobedo will appear as Bobbie’s younger half-sister, Isabella. Happy’s Place is also set to star Pablo Castelblanco from Alaska Daily and Tokala Black Elk, who appeared in Yellowstone.
“It’s lots of fun. I love all genres of entertainment. But the sitcoms are so much fun, cause it’s a brand new script every week,” McEntire previously told ET last month. “And you’re just having fun. It’s really hard memorizing dialogue you have to do, but it ain’t my first rodeo. I do love it. And it’s just playtime. We have a blast with it.”
She continued: “It’s gonna be that heartfelt, fun, funny, laugh at our silliness. But also, [you’ll] be touched with the heart in our show.”
In a separate interview, McEntire confirmed that she plans to sing the theme song for Happy’s Place. “We’ve started working on it, and we’ll have it soon finished,” she told People. “If they say it’s a go, I’ll finish it up and have it ready for when we go to series.”
