Breaking Down the Biggest ‘Happy’s Place’ Story Line Changes: Steve Howey’s Sperm Donor Arc and More (Exclusive)

NBC’s Happy’s Place went through quite a few story line changes — including when it came to those Reba cameos — but what were the show’s original plans and how did they shift?

During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, creator Kevin Abbott confirmed that the biggest shakeup was Danny (Steve Howey) was no longer going to be a potential sperm donor for Gabby (Melissa Peterman) despite past comments from him.

“With Steve Howey, we originally had an idea that he was going to be the sperm donor. Then NBC wanted a Christmas episode so we had to scramble and come up with something. We put Steve in that and we changed things,” Abbott explained. “But he was originally the sperm donor.”

Howey, 47, and Peterman, 53, previously teased to Us in individual interviews how they wanted to see the story go after sharing the screen on Reba. Abbott, however, admitted that it would be “a little weird” considering the way viewers have associated Howey with Van from Reba and Peterman with the role of Barbara Jean. (The pair played in-laws on the hit sitcom.)

“It got a little creepy and a little incestuous,” he quipped. “It got weird. So we decided against that. We are so lucky we’ve been able to have two of our old cast members on right now. And we’re looking to bring JoAnna Garcia Swisher. Obviously we love her.”

Despite Happy’s Place overlapping so much with Reba due to stars Reba McEntire and Peterman being on both shows, the NBC sitcom has to be careful with guest stars. (In addition to Howey, season 1 featured an episode with Christopher Rich as well.)

“We can’t get too close to what the original [revival of Reba would have been],” Abbott noted. “We can only do so much without crossing legal lines. So that’s always a big caution for us. Mostly my attitude on this.”

The other onscreen shift could come as a surprise for viewers who saw McEntire’s Bobbie come to terms with her feelings for Rex Linn‘s character, Emmett.

“I actually had a different place I was going to wind up with in the first season. It involved that relationship,” Abbott confirmed about Bobbie and Emmett, who decided not to act on their feelings just yet during the Friday, March 21, season finale. “But I couldn’t because we like to track these out and then build them so that when we get there, it is a surprise. It seems obvious the tracks have been laid because we had the 13 episodes and we weren’t told whether or not we were going to get picked up for more.”

The Happy’s Place writers decided not to rush the romance, with Abbott adding, “I didn’t have time to build where I wanted to build to. But I wanted to start that relationship because the one thing I never got to do on the old Reba show was relationships.”

After Happy’s Place was ordered to series in May 2024, the character descriptions, cast members and even potential onscreen relationships evolved.

“When you have a pilot, hopefully you create areas that you could grow into. For instance, Pablo Castelblanco‘s character was [pictured] as Larry Wilmore and I was thinking that was going to be a very different type of character,” Abbott explained. “Pablo came in and he was just so brilliant. I didn’t know if he was going to be Steve or who but he was going to be in the show. So the dynamics put in place for Steve we didn’t follow at all.”

He continued: “Originally Steve and Isabella [Belissa Escobedo], were possible love interests with each other. Obviously that’s not going to be the case. … I could be lying [though]. You have no idea. You shouldn’t trust me.”

Happy’s Place has been renewed for season 2. Season 1 is now streaming on Peacock.