Steve Howey wasn’t expecting to play out a sperm donor story line on Happy’s Place after already filming something similar for Shameless — but he’s having fun with it.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Howey, 47, explained why he didn’t think it would make sense for him to reunite on Happy’s Place with his former Reba costar JoAnna Garcia Swisher. (Howey, who made his Happy’s Place debut on Friday, December 6, has already shared the screen with former costars Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman.)
“I kind of like this idea of all of us coming back in different forms. I had my single guest star episode, and JoAnna should have her single guest star episode,” he noted. “Because we’re not playing Van or Cheyenne [from Reba]. Also I think that there’s some kind of relationship between [Peterman’s character] Gabby and Danny.”
Howey said it would be too much to have Garcia Swisher, 45, as a scene partner again when Danny and Gabby are exploring something.
“Melissa is like a sister to me,” he added. “So it’s a little weird if they get into a romantic relationship, but we shall see.”
Earlier this season on Happy’s Place, Gabby expressed her interest in having a child solo. Showrunner Kevin Abbott, who was also an executive producer on Reba when it aired on The WB between 2001 and 2007, previously hinted that Howey’s character will turn out to be a potential sperm donor for Gabby down the line.
“I think a sperm donor could be part of a romantic relationship. If it is the sperm donor route Kevin wants to go, that’s kind of romantic, right?” he quipped. “It’s a little weird to be honest. It’s a little weird, but I don’t know what they have planned. I mean, I’ve been called a sperm donor before.”
Howey originally rose to fame playing Van on Reba, which followed “a single mom who works two jobs, who loves her kids and never stops,” a.k.a. Reba, played by McEntire, now 69. From there, Howey found success as Kevin on Shameless. The Showtime series featured many creative story lines including Kevin’s wife, Veronica (Shanola Hampton), not being able to conceive. Her mother became their surrogate while Kevin was the sperm donor.
Happy’s Place won’t introduce such risqué story lines, but the NBC sitcom has still found creative ways to incorporate Howey into the show. Before his debut, Peterman, 53, spoke about their reunion off screen.
“We’re hopeful that it will work for everyone [from Reba] and they can [all appear on the show]. We would love it. And having Steve, it was so much fun and he is another person that we have continued to still be in each other’s lives,” Peterman told Us in October. “We have a history. We shared something that not everyone did. That was both of our first sort of big thing. We just have known each other forever. It was so much fun, and nobody makes me laugh harder than Steve Howey.”
For now, Howey is just having fun with his highly anticipated guest role.
“Van is obviously different because I was so different. I was a lot younger, a lot more naive and a lot more fresh. It was my first series regular job so it was very new. Now after 20 some years, I can bring different experiences to the characters that I play,” Howey explained. “Also he character relationships — because Happy’s Place is a new thing — are different. Yes, it’s Reba [and] Melissa, but the characters are different. Bobbie is a lot different than Reba. Gabby is a lot different than Barbara Jean and Danny’s obviously different.”
He continued: “This guy owns his own business. He has money and he’s playing this game. Like you said, Danny was onto them the whole time. … They have something special [with Happy’s Place] that just makes sense, and Reba has another lightning-in-a-bottle show.”
Happy’s Place airs on NBC Fridays at 8 p.m. ET.
