Clear a chair! Reba McEntire is officially joining season 24 of The Voice as a coach following Blake Shelton‘s exit.
NBC confirmed the news at the network’s upfront presentation on Monday, May 15. The “Fancy” songstress, 68, will join returning coaches John Legend, Gwen Stefani and Niall Horan with the new season, which is set to premiere later this year. McEntire served as a mega mentor in season 23, which will conclude on Tuesday, May 23.
“There’s a new Coach in town!” the Country Music Hall of Famer wrote via Instagram on Monday, sharing a video of her new chair on set. “See you all this Fall!”
During Monday’s episode, host Carson Daly shared the big news, introducing McEntire as season 24’s newest coach. “Where’d Blake go?” the former Total Request Live host, 49, quipped. “Who cares?!”
The “You Lie” singer added that she was excited to join the show after appearing as a guest over the past season. “I’m looking forward to being here with all of y’all,” she told Daly. “You’ve treated me so nicely. I appreciate the hospitality so much that you showed me earlier. And to be able to come in and form my team? I’m so looking forward to it.”
The season 23 finale will include a special tribute to Shelton, 46, who has been a coach on the singing competition show since it debuted in April 2011. The Oklahoma native first announced his exit from the NBC series in October 2022.
“I’ve been wrestling with this for a while and I’ve decided that it’s time for me to step away from The Voice after season 23,” he wrote via Instagram at the time. “This show has changed my life in every way for the better and it will always feel like home to me. It’s been a hell of a ride over these 12 years of chair turns and I want to thank everyone at The Voice from NBC, every producer, the writers, musicians, crew and catering people, you are the best.”
During a February interview on the Today show, Shelton revealed that he initially considered leaving the show in 2020 amid the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. “And then, because of COVID, I didn’t want to walk away from the show and leave everybody in a bind,” the “Happy Anywhere” singer explained. “I mean, this show changed my life. I’ll stay here until the world kind of gets back to normal again.”
The country crooner went on to say that he felt it was “time” for him to move on from the long-running series. “It’s time for not even what’s next,” he added. “A little bit of nothing would be nice.”
Shelton and Stefani, 53, met while filming The Voice and began dating in 2015. After getting engaged in 2020, they tied the knot the following year at Shelton’s ranch in Oklahoma.
Last year, the “God’s Country” artist revealed that his marriage to the No Doubt frontwoman had reshaped the way he thinks about his career goals. “Look, I love music and I love The Voice,” Shelton told Entertainment Tonight in August 2022. “I love all the cool things I get to do with my job, but those things all take a backseat now to Gwen and the kids, and it’s just a new phase of my life.”
The “Hollaback Girl” songstress shares sons Kingston, 16, Zuma, 14, and Apollo, 9, with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale.
In 2021, Shelton said that he looks to his own stepfather when thinking about the kind of stepparent he wants to be for Stefani’s boys. “I love my stepfather and I look up to him and he’s like a father to me, so I have a good inspiration in my life for how to do this and the kind of stepdad I want to be,” the ACM Award winner told KFROG 95.1. “And I take it very serious. I don’t take it so serious that I’m not enjoying this time because I really am, especially now that we’re five years into this thing.”
The two-part season 23 finale of The Voice airs on NBC Monday, May 22, at 8 p.m. ET and Tuesday, May 23, at 9 p.m. ET.
