Reba McEntire’s Boyfriend and Co-Star Rex Linn Gushes Over Working With Her on ‘Big Sky’ and ‘The Hammer’

Reba McEntire has been having a Hollywood revival as of late, with two active projects in ABC’s Big Sky and the upcoming Lifetime movie The Hammer. Notably, the country music icon’s boyfriend Rex Linn stars with her in both, and recently gushed over what it’s like to work alongside her on-screen. “She doesn’t stop moving,” he told TV Line in a recent interview.

“I’m telling you, man, she’s like a great white shark. Can’t stop or they’ll die in the water. [Laughs] At least that’s what the scientists tell us,” he added. Linn continued, “Every scene was fun for me because I was working with her, and I mean that. We’ll wink at each other in the middle of a scene.” The longtime actor also praised how “brilliant” McEntire is with her lines, saying she “can look at a page of dialogue for five minutes and she’s ready to go.”

While she’ll be playing a woman-of-the-law in The Hammer, McEntire’s Big Sky role is much darker. Interestingly, it turns out that it was Linn who helped convince her to take the part in the first place. Speaking to EW about how McEntire’s part as backcountry outfitter head-honcho Sunny Barnes came about, Big Sky showrunner Elwood Reid confessed, “Reba is someone who a lot of us grew up with. I had written a character, and I described her as ‘Reba McEntire, circa Tremors.’ I always loved that character.”

He continued, “So I called her and pitched her the character. We all have this image of Reba McEntire as being America’s sweetheart, country music star. I was very nervous about pitching her this character that goes into some dark places.” Reid then shared how McEntire’s boyfriend, who is also an actor, urged her to take the role. 

Reid revealed, “I was pitching her, and I heard this voice in the background, ‘Yes, hell yes, you’re doing this,’ and I saw Rex Linn, who’s also her boyfriend. He said, ‘I’ve been telling her she needs to do this for 10 years.’ And then Reba stopped and said, ‘Will you hire my boyfriend Rex?’ I know Rex from Better Call Saul and lots of stuff that he’s worked on. And I was like, ‘Well, alright, that’s two for one.’” Big Sky returns on Jan. 4 at 10 pm ET, on ABC. The Hammer premieres Saturday, Jan. 7, at 8 p.m. ET, on Lifetime.