JoAnna Garcia Swisher made a rare comment about Reba costars Scarlett Pomers and Mitch Holleman after their breaks from acting.
When asked whether Pomers, 37, and Holleman, 31, would make an appearance on Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman‘s hit NBC series Happy’s Place, Garcia Swisher, 46, told People on Monday, April 20, “I have no control over this.”
The actress expressed gratitude for getting an invite herself earlier this month.
“I was just happy to be able to do it and so excited,” she noted. “I think it would be really fun for everyone to get their shot, but there’s a lot of moving parts to all of it … I was just really grateful to get my opportunity.”
Reba, which aired from 2001 to 2007, followed a single mom who had to start over after her husband, Brock (Chris Rich), left her for his dental hygienist, Barbra Jean (Peterman).
Reba (McEntire) faced a multitude of obstacles while raising her three kids — including her pregnant teen daughter (Garcia Swisher) and her boyfriend (Steve Howey). Pomers and Holleman were also prominent cast members on the show but took a step back from the spotlight in the years since Reba ended.
Many Reba alums have been able to join McEntire, 71, and Peterman, 54, on their new show two decades after Reba. Rich’s episode in February 2025 held extra significance after he spent years away from acting following a massive stroke.
“After my stroke and having a brain injury, it is like I got hit with an atomic bomb. So it all gets traumatized, and it is a hard reset,” he exclusively told Us Weekly at the time. “After I finally got out of the hospital, I was moving around again. Then I threw a bunch of blood clots and ended up in the hospital with lung embolisms and debris on my heart. After surviving all of that crap, I’m feeling really, really good.”
Rich continued: “I lost 50 pounds since the last time I was a regular on television. I just don’t have much of an appetite anymore. But I’m not disappointed by losing weight.”
The 72-year-old actor was hopeful about his return to Hollywood, adding, “It’s great to be able to be a disabled person and play a disabled person. I’m hoping that when some of this gets out there, that people that I’ve worked with in the past are going to say, ‘OK, let’s bring him back. We can work with him.’”
McEntire previously gushed over reuniting with Rich on Happy’s Place.
“To bring Chris back in [after Reba], that was the most special to the producers — Kevin Abbott and Mindy Schultheis and Michael Hanel. They were all from the Reba sitcom,” McEntire quipped to Us in May 2025.
McEntire recalled how important it was for them to work together again, noting that “it really made a difference” to Rich.
“He got to come back to the work that he loved so much around the people that he loves so much. And we all love him,” she said. “It’s been a huge blessing for all of us.”
Happy’s Place airs on NBC Fridays at 8 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Peacock.
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