JamesG
08-25-2025, 10:43 PM
Scrapped "Reba" Revival Plot Revealed — Just How Close Did the WB Comedy Come to Returning for Season 7?
by Ryan Schwartz
August 25, 2025
The roots of NBC’s "Happy’s Place" are planted in the past — roughly six years in the past, which is when Reba McEntire and showrunner Kevin Abbott wanted to revive The WB classic "Reba"
“We had moved reasonably far on the reboot,” the Abbot tells TVLine. “There was not a script yet. We’d gotten to the point where we had pitched it to [20th Century] Fox, who wanted to take it out [and pitch it to networks].
The stall came when they were supposed to sign the actors to [holding] deals. We were right up to the point of being ready to take it out and sell it when word came back [that it would not be moving forward]. It was unfortunate timing because of the Disney-Fox merger [in 2019], and there was a lot of uncertainty as to who actually should be making those calls.”
“We had the story,” Abbott confirms. “We had everything but me actually putting the pen to paper. I was pretty disappointed. It had been a year and a half worth of work going into that, and it seemed so promising.”
As for what audiences would have seen in Season 7, Abbott reveals that “we were going to be picking up in real time. The characters had all aged to their [real] ages. We were going to start with Reba potentially moving out of Houston, but realizing that [she needed to stay put for the family].”
“Somewhere in the back of my bed, [I think] maybe we can do a movie or something with it,” the EP says, stopping himself from disclosing anything further. “There was enough material generated to cover at least a couple hours.”
https://tvline.com/features/reba-reboot-canceled-season-7-cast-storyline-explained-1235492174/
by Ryan Schwartz
August 25, 2025
The roots of NBC’s "Happy’s Place" are planted in the past — roughly six years in the past, which is when Reba McEntire and showrunner Kevin Abbott wanted to revive The WB classic "Reba"
“We had moved reasonably far on the reboot,” the Abbot tells TVLine. “There was not a script yet. We’d gotten to the point where we had pitched it to [20th Century] Fox, who wanted to take it out [and pitch it to networks].
The stall came when they were supposed to sign the actors to [holding] deals. We were right up to the point of being ready to take it out and sell it when word came back [that it would not be moving forward]. It was unfortunate timing because of the Disney-Fox merger [in 2019], and there was a lot of uncertainty as to who actually should be making those calls.”
“We had the story,” Abbott confirms. “We had everything but me actually putting the pen to paper. I was pretty disappointed. It had been a year and a half worth of work going into that, and it seemed so promising.”
As for what audiences would have seen in Season 7, Abbott reveals that “we were going to be picking up in real time. The characters had all aged to their [real] ages. We were going to start with Reba potentially moving out of Houston, but realizing that [she needed to stay put for the family].”
“Somewhere in the back of my bed, [I think] maybe we can do a movie or something with it,” the EP says, stopping himself from disclosing anything further. “There was enough material generated to cover at least a couple hours.”
https://tvline.com/features/reba-reboot-canceled-season-7-cast-storyline-explained-1235492174/