Reba McEntire‘s two television worlds may collide after she hinted that her former The Voice co-star and coach Blake Shelton may appear on her upcoming NBC sitcom Happy Place, which premieres fall of 2024.
“You think he’ll do it?” said McEntire after being asked if Shelton would make a cameo on her show. “For you, yes. Alright, Blake. You heard it.” Since leaving The Voice after 23 seasons in May 2023, Shelton has taken time off to spend with family at his ranch in Oklahoma, along with wrapping up his Back to the Honky Tonk Tour in spring 2024.
“He’s worked so hard and for so long, on the what 23 seasons on ‘The Voice,’” added McEntire. He deserves a break.”
Though it’s still unclear whether McEntire and Shelton will have a TV reunion, along with starring in Happy Place, McEntire has already signed on to coach season 26 of The Voice, alongside Shelton’s wife and returning coach Gwen Stefani and newcomers Michael Bublé and Snoop Dogg.
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Along with the possibility of working with Shelton again, McEntire, who recently performed her new single “I Can’t” on The Voice, said she would also love to collaborate with Stefani. “We’re gonna work on it,” said McEntire, “because I’d love to sing with Gwen.”
For McEntire, who recently hosted the Academy of Country Music Awards for the 17th time, Happy Place picks up where she left off on her hit comedy Reba, which ran for seven seasons from 2001 through 2007. The series follows Bobbie Jo (McEntire) who inherits her father’s restaurant and has to run it with a half-sister she never knew she had, played by Belissa Escobedo (Hocus Pocus 2).
Happy Place also reunites McEntire with her former Reba castmate Melissa Peterman Barbra Jean on the sitcom.
Since Reba ended, McEntire also starred in several films and TV shows, including Malibu Country in 2012, the third season of Big Sky, and a recurring role on Young Sheldon, among other roles. McEntire first started showing off her acting skills in “mini-movie” music videos in the mid-’80s, beginning with “Whoever’s in New England” in 1986 and “Is There Life Out There” in 1992, which starred McEntire as a single mother and waitress who goes back to school and later turned into a TV movie. Reba also played a Navy officer who falls for her sergeant in the video for her 1993 duet, “The Heart Won’t Lie,” with Vince Gill.
In 1990, McEntire made her film debut in Tremors, alongside Kevin Bacon, and later starred in the 1991 TV movie The Gambler Returns, The Luck of the Draw with Kenny Rogers, along with The Man from Left Field (1993), North (1994), The Little Rascals (1994), Buffalo Girls (1995), Forever Love (1998), Secret of Giving and One Night at McCool’s in 2001, and dozens of other roles leading up to The Voice in 2023.
[RELATED: 4 Songs You Didn’t Know Reba McEntire Wrote Solo]
With Happy Place, McEntire is also returning to her element: TV sitcoms. “I love all genres of entertainment, but the sitcoms are just so much fun because it’s a brand new script every week, and you’re just having fun,” said McEntire. “It’s really hard memorizing all the dialogue you have to do, but … it ain’t my first rodeo. I do love it. It’s just playtime. We have a blast with it.”
Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images
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