For five seasons, The WB struck gold thanks to Reba, a one-of-a-kind sitcom that featured celebrated country music star Reba McEntire in the leading role. The show’s heart, dedication to its characters, and the tight-knit bond between the cast made it a lightning in a bottle kind of production, one that simply doesn’t come around often. After its cancellation, McEntire continued doing what she does best — performing — both on stage and in various films and TV productions. In more recent years, she nabbed a recurring role on Young Sheldon and a leading role on Big Sky, but didn’t return to the center of the story until last year with the arrival of Happy’s Place.

The first season of the NBC sitcom took off like wildfire, following McEntire’s Bobbie, a woman who inherits her father’s bar in Knoxville, Tennessee only to discover she must split the asset with a half sister who she never knew existed. In the role of Bobbie’s half-sister, Isabella, is Belissa Escobedo, who perfectly captures the personality of the young woman who never knew her father and who has a very different outlook on life and business than her older sibling. With a handful of fun supporting performances from Reba favorites like Melissa Peterman as well as Rex Linn, Pablo Castelblanco, and Tokala Black Elk, the first season saw all the characters come together to make the business work and form unbreakable bonds with one another.

Ahead of the second season premiere, Collider sat down with McEntire and Escobedo to discuss what lies ahead for the characters of Happy’s Place in the next set of episodes and who we can hope to see make guest appearances in the future. Additionally, McEntire opened up about her final season as a coach on NBC’s The Voice and the cinematic project that she’ll be involved with down the line.

Reba McEntire and Belissa Escobedo Tease the Character Growth In ‘Happy’s Place’ Season 2 and What It’s Like Working With Your Real-Life Romantic Partner

“Whether we’re arguing, fighting, or flirting, it’s a lot of fun.”

COLLIDER: The first season allowed you to introduce the characters and start to get to know them, but with a second season, you can dig into everybody a little bit more. When you read the script or as you’re working through the season, what storylines or growth for each of your characters were you most excited to get into?

REBA MCENTIRE: The greatest thing about our writers and showrunner is that everybody gets a little bit of time for their background to be brought to the forefront, and we find out how long Emmett’s been there at the tavern, and I also learned things from Gabby. So, Gabby was there before me. It’s little things like that we’re introducing to the audience that make it a lot of fun for us, that we’re learning the backstory, also, at the same time.

BELISSA ESCOBEDO: Yeah. Putting puzzle pieces together.

With all of the excitement that you guys have getting back on set and getting back in front of that live audience, is there anything that you’re excited to see pan out on screen for the viewers to see, like a scene or an episode, even?

ESCOBEDO: I think all of it, really. I’m just excited for them to go on the journey that we’ve been on for a few months now with our characters, because we’ve had so much fun, and we’ve had ups and downs and emotional times. I’m just so excited for them to experience that.

MCENTIRE: Yeah, the premiere can’t come faster.

Fans have really loved the slow burn between Bobbie and Emmett. Can you speak a little bit about what made the writers go in that direction to make it a slow burn, and then on top of that, what’s it like having your on-screen love interest be your real-life fiancée?

MCENTIRE: Well, to answer your second question first, it’s a lot of fun. It’s very natural. It’s not uncomfortable. Sometimes when you’re in a love relationship in an acting situation, it’s kind of uncomfortable, especially if you’re in a real relationship at home and then you do this kind of an on-screen relationship, love, whatever. With Rex [Linn] and me, Bobbie and Emmett, it’s so much fun. We love it. We absolutely love being together on screen. Whether we’re arguing, fighting, or flirting, it’s a lot of fun.

That’s great. The slow burn, was that anybody’s idea in particular? I think it’s such a good idea that that first season, they were kind of dancing around it. Was there an intention behind that?

MCENTIRE: That would be our fearless leader, Kevin Abbott, making that decision, and I think it was a great decision. It was a slow rise, and it worked out real well.

There’s Plenty of Space For Future Cameo Appearances From ‘Reba’ and Beyond on ‘Happy’s Place’

“You can’t imagine the list.”

While we may not have gotten the Reba reboot that so many of us would love to see, we’ve seen so many reunions on the show, and you’ve got some work coming in the second season. Is there anybody out there who maybe schedules haven’t aligned or maybe there’s just not the part for them yet, who you’re hoping to get on in the future?

MCENTIRE: You can’t imagine the list. With six actors in this show, everybody’s got a list this long of guest stars we’d like to have come on the show, because when you’re having fun, you want to share that.

Exactly. Is there anybody you can tease who you’d like to have, or do you have to keep that under wraps?

ESCOBEDO: Who we’d like to have? I don’t know that it’ll ever happen, but I always say Kevin Costner.

I love that. We’d love to see that. Let’s manifest it.

MCENTIRE: We put it out to the universe!

Absolutely.

MCENTIRE: When I was doing The Voice, Snoop, Niall [Horan], and Michael [Bublé], they’re all like, “We want to come over and have fun!” Because I go back over there, and I start talking about what we’re doing and having so much fun. They want to be a part of it.

Reba McEntire Talks the Toughest Part About Coaching on ‘The Voice’ and Her Upcoming Cinematic Project

“That was the hard part for me.”

I love that that segues me into my next question. I would be so remiss if I didn’t ask you a question about The Voice. I know that this is going to be your last season for now — we’ll see — but looking back on your first season, was there anything when you went into it that really caught you by surprise, being a coach on a competition series like this, where you were just like, “Wow, I wasn’t expecting this?”

MCENTIRE: Yeah. Having to come up with new things to say every time you’re supposed to speak. I got to the producers, I said, “Y’all gotta help me! I can’t say the same thing over and over.” So that was difficult for me, trying to come up with some things, being my first season. Gwen [Stefani] was so good at it. John [Legend] was so good at it. Then I was just sitting over there like, “I don’t know what I’m going to say. They’ve said what I want to say.” So I just kind of duplicated or made something up. That was the hard part for me.

That live TV riffing, I’m sure. Kind of in that same vein, at the beginning of this year, we learned that you were going to be part of the on-screen adaptation of The All-Girl Filling Stations’ Last Reunion. Can you say anything about that project and how it’s progressing?

MCENTIRE: Well, it’s progressing slowly, and we’re still working on the script, but we are so excited about it. I’m a huge Fannie Flagg fan. Love her. I love all of her books, and this was one of my favorites.

Happy’s Place Season 2 airs on NBC and is available to stream on Peacock.