Reba McEntire Returning to ‘The Voice’

Reba McEntire is making her way back to The Voice!

The country music icon will return to the NBC singing competition’s upcoming Season 28 in fall, joining other returning coaches Snoop Dogg, Niall Horan, and Michael Bublé as Adam Levine, John Legend, and Kelsea Ballerini make their exits.

McEntire will be the most experienced coach on Season 28, having previously starred on three seasons between Seasons 24 and 26 and taken home the win on Season 25.

The “Fancy” singer was actually asked to be an original judge on The Voice back when it debuted in 2011, but told Newsweek when she first joined in Season 24 that she had turned the initial offer down.

“I can’t be a mean Judge,” she said before joining in 2023. “I mean, when I turned it down 15 years ago, when they wanted me to do The Voice, I said, ‘I can’t tell anybody that they’re horrible.’ I can’t say to somebody, ‘Well, is your mama gonna meet you at the bus station? Because you’re going home.’ I can’t do that.”

McEntire noted that if she were trying out for The Voice as a young artist, she didn’t think anyone would turn around for her during the Blind Auditions. “Honestly, I don’t,” she confessed. “If they would, I’d be thrilled to pieces.”

“But what an opportunity these kids are having, and some of [them] aren’t kids,” she continued. “Some are 16, 17 years old, and some people that come on The Voice are in their 30s and want to give it a go and are having fun with it,” she added. “But what an opportunity to be seen by that many people all over the world for just a few minutes, whereas it would have taken me years at my concert levels to get in front of that many people.”

McEntire also stars in NBC’s new hit sitcom Happy Place, which was recently renewed for a second season. In Happy’s Place, McEntire reunites with her Reba co-star Melissa Peterman as the country star plays Bobbie, a woman who inherits her father’s titular tavern but is surprised to learn she has a new business partner in her twenty-something half-sister, whom she never knew about.