‘Happy’s Place’s ‘Reba’ Reunion Details Revealed

Happy’s Place has Reba fans hyped over the upcoming sitcom reunion! Shameless star Steve Howey, whose breakout role was that of Reba’s son-in-law Van Montgomery on The WB’s popular sitcom, will reunite with former co-stars Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman on the duo’s new NBC comedy, and TVLine just reported the details.

Happy’s Place creator and former Reba executive producer Kevin Abbott confirmed to the outlet that Howey will return as Danny, a “potential sperm donor” for Peterman’s character Gabby, in the Christmas episode titled “Ho-Ho-Howey.”

“One of the arcs for [Peterman’s] character Gabby is that she thinks she wants to have a baby… and the Steve Howey character becomes a potential sperm donor,” Abbott explained. “We’re hoping that Steve’s character can come back.”

NBC later released an official character description for Danny, calling him “a wealthy business owner” that Gabby meets at a dog park. “In order to impress him, Gabby has pretended to be Bobbie because she thought that would make herself more interesting… that is until he wants to hold his holiday party at the Tavern,” the network teases.

Having Howey reunite with his former co-stars is “a lot of fun,” the show creator added. “We absolutely want to bring some of the old cast members on — and in very different roles than what they played on Reba. Steve’s our first one up, and we’re trying to figure out how to bring JoAnna [Garcia-Swisher] in. We only want to have the old cast in if we can really utilize them in a fun, impactful way.”

Happy’s Place premieres on Friday, Oct. 18, on NBC. McEntire stars as Bobbie, who inherits her father’s tavern, Happy’s Place, “and is surprised to discover that she has a new business partner, Isabella, a twentysomething half-sister that she never knew she had.”

Isabella, who is played by Hocus Pocus 2 star Belissa Escobedo, is a psychology student who loves to analyze people, is “thrilled to start working at the tavern and is full of ‘great’ ideas about how to bring it to life,” as per NBC.

Peterman plays bartender Gabby, whom the network describes as “a bit needy and dramatic, and would have loved to be Bobbie’s sister.” Also starring on Happy’s Place are McEntire’s actual boyfriend Rex Linn (Young Sheldon), who plays tavern cook Emmett; Tokala Black Elk (Yellowstone) as waiter Takoda; and Pablo Castelblanco (Alaska Daily) as accountant Steve.

Happy’s Place will reunite McEntire and Peterman more than 17 years after Reba ended its run on what became The CW. The comedic sitcom followed Reba as a single mom trying to juggle her blended family after her husband Brock left her for his dental hygienist, Peterman’s Barbra Jean. The series first premiered on The WB in 2001 and ran for six seasons through 2007.

Happy’s Place premieres on Friday, Oct. 18 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.