‘Reba’ Reunions & More Season 2 Plans Revealed by Showrunner Kevin Abbott (Exclusive)

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Happy’s Place Season 1 Episode 18, “Alarm Bells.”]

Happy’s Place may have wrapped its Season 1 run, but showrunner Kevin Abbott already has big plans for Season 2 which was previously announced by NBC.

“The network told us that we were picked up for Season 2 the night of our last taping,” Abbott recalls. “So just before we started taping at six o’clock that Tuesday night, they called us into the room and told us.” While the opportunity to continue telling these characters’ stories certainly excites Abbott, the pick-up shifts some of the planning.

“I’ll lay out arcs to see where we can get the characters to,” he notes of his process, and while they’re “not set in stone,” he says, “we generally land around those areas [that are mapped out]. And this season, because we didn’t find out we were getting a back order and how many [episodes that would include] until after we’d shot the original 13, I didn’t really have a chance to lay all the groundwork to get to where I wanted these characters to go.”

Casey Durkin / NBC

So, where will they go next? Abbott’s already begun planting the seeds that people have seen so far this season, but they’ll go even further in Season 2.

For those less acquainted with Happy’s Place, it tells the story of Bobbie (Reba McEntire), a woman who discovers she has a secret younger sister, Isabella (Belissa Escobedo) when their father’s will is read, bequeathing them with the titular bar he once oversaw. In addition to following Bobbie and Isabella, the fabric of this show also includes bartender Gabby (Melissa Peterman), cook Emmett (Rex Linn), worker Takoda (Tokala Black Elk), and regular patron Steve (Pablo Castelblanco).

As Abbott looks ahead to the future, he teases that Season 2 will further explore arcs like “Gabby’s motherhood [journey], the Bobbie-Emmett relationship, Isabella and her backstory… Steve’s becoming a really interesting character to me. We want to find out more about Takoda’s home life.”

“We wanted to spend a lot of time in Season 1 letting the audience get to know the characters,” Abbott says, “Then we’ll get to branch out a little bit more in Season 2 now.” Some ideas have been percolating for so long that Abbott reveals, “I’ve had in my head where I want these characters to go since before we actually wrote the pilot. So we’re getting there.”

After welcoming several Reba favorites into the mix with guest roles in Season 1 for Steve Howey and Christopher Rich, Abbott promises more reunions are on the horizon if it’s up to him. “We definitely want to bring Joanna [Garcia Swisher] in. We’ve been talking to her. It’s a matter of timing for her.”

What do you think of Abbott’s plans for Bobbie, Isabella, and the rest of the gang? Let us know in the comments section, below, and stay tuned for any possible updates as Happy’s Place Season 2 takes shape.

Happy’s Place, Season 2 Premiere, TBA, NBC