The Cast Talks Where Their Characters Would Be Today

In the 2000s, fans everywhere got to know and love the world of Reba: A sitcom that followed Reba Hart (played by Reba McEntire, of course) and starred the whole Hart family.

Family drama was a cornerstone of the show, which started when Reba discovered her husband Brock (Christopher Rich) was having an affair and expecting a baby with dental hygienist Barbra Jean (Melissa Peterman.) To further throw a wrench in the works, Reba’s teen daughter Cheyenne (Joanna Garcia Swisher) surprised the whole family when she announced that she and her boyfriend Van (Steve Howey) were having a baby.

The plot was ripe for conflict, but what really made this show stand out was the humor, heart and love for each other that each character brought to the table.

Reba‘s been off the air since 2007, but the show is currently getting a mini-reunion thanks to Happy’s Place, McEntire’s hit new NBC sitcom that co-stars some familiar faces. Peterman is joining her in the cast, as well as some of the producers that worked on Reba. Not only that, but lots of the original Reba lineup are making cameos, including Howey and Rich.

Read More: Christopher Rich Says Reba McEntire ‘Woke Up My Life’ After His Stroke

The reunion is more than just a chance for these actors to share a screen one more time. It’s also prodded several of them to reflect on where their Reba characters — and some others — might be today if the show had never stopped running.

Here’s what the cast has said about where each character might be in 2025, and what they might be doing.

Reba Hart (Reba McEntire)

It’s probably no surprise to any fan of the show that this matriarch still “loves her kids and never stops” all these years later. When McEntire and Peterman revived their characters for a short video focused on social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, Reba was stuck inside her home with her kids playing games with them — even though they were driving her crazy.

But as for the “single mom” part of the original Reba equation?

Speaking to Us Weekly last October, Peterman says she feels confident that McEntire’s character eventually found love.

“I think Reba would be either in a really committed relationship or married,” Peterman speculated. “I honestly think Reba should absolutely have met the love of her love.”

Brock Hart (Christopher Rich)

Christopher Rich — who plays Brock on the show — thinks it’s possible that his character and McEntire’s might have made an attempt at reconciliation after their divorce.

“There’s also a chance that Brock and Reba might have gotten back together for a brief period,” he told Us Weekly in February. “That would be fun. It would investigate how exes sometimes reconnect for a brief time and then go, ‘Oh, I see why we divorced.'”

If they did ever rekindle their romance, it sees a pretty safe bet that the relationship would be short-lived. Rich and Peterman (who plays his onscreen love interest Barbra Jean) seem to agree that their characters would probably still be together in 2025.

Barbra Jean (Melissa Peterman)

Barbra Jean is Reba’s playful, slapstick-hilarious antagonist-turned-friend on the show, and Peterman speculates that that dynamic might not have changed a whole lot between 2007 and 2025.

“[Reba and Barbra Jean] would definitely still be best friends. Or at least Barbra Jean would tell everyone that they were best friends,” Peterman jokes to Us Weekly. The 2020 mini-video the two women performed in character also supports that theory.

Peterman adds that Barbra Jean and Brock are likely still together, though she has a hunch that they might be “struggling” in 2025.

Cheyenne Hart and Van Montgomery (Joanna Garcia Swisher and Steve Howey)

There’s not a whole lot of detail from Swisher and Howey themselves on what Cheyenne and Van might be up to these days, though Howey made a cameo on McEntire’s new sitcom Happy’s Place, and he said at the time that he was hoping for a reprisal of Van’s character. Swisher has said she’d be up for a Reba reboot, too.

But Peterman’s optimistic about these high school sweethearts turned new parents’ future together. She told Us Weekly that she feelsa confident the couple is still together.