‘Happy’s Place’: Emma Kenney on Jumping From ‘The Conners’ to Play Reba’s Daughter

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Happy’s Place, Season 1 Episode 10, “The Macallister Girls.”]

Happy’s Place made way for the introduction of another member of Bobbie’s (Reba McEntire) family as her daughter Gracie (Emma Kenney) returned home for a visit.

A member of the military, Gracie had been stationed at a base in Qatar and made the long journey home to reunite with Bobbie, Abby (Melissa Peterman), and more, but not necessarily the new aunt she never saw coming, Isabella (Belissa Escobedo). Upon her arrival, Gracie is pressured to connect with Isabella who couldn’t be anymore different from her in personality, at least when Bobbie is putting the pressure on them.

Eager to try and make it work, the self-professed psychology expert Isabella finds an in with Gracie when they relate over having overbearing moms. While this revelation doesn’t please Bobbie, it brings Gracie and Isabella closer together and forces Bobbie and Gracie to confront the grief that tore their family apart.

Casey Durkin / NBC

As Gracie admits in the episode, her father’s death was one of the things that drove her away from home, and Bobbie finally gets some closure over that idea, allowing the mother and daughter to reconnect in a way they hadn’t in a long time. Overall, it’s a very touching and uniting episode filled with hope for the future. Below, Kenney opens up about Gracie’s introduction, hopes for her return, reveals what it was like following in the footsteps of her former Shameless castmate on the NBC comedy, and the experience of taking on a multi-camera comedy other than ABC‘s The Conners.

What was it like stepping onto the Happy’s Place stage though?

Emma Kenney: Stepping onto the Happy’s Place set at Universal was so welcoming. Everybody was so kind and wanted to make sure I was comfortable and felt I had everything I needed, and I was really lucky for that. I’m not used to going to a set as the newbie coming onto an already established cast. So I was a little nervous going into it, but as soon as I met everyone, my nerves were really made at ease.

Your Shameless costar Steve Howey already guest-starred this season. Did you get to connect before your arrival as Gracie?

Yeah, we did. I love Steve. We keep in touch frequently. He just told me how wonderful the cast was and how much fun he had on that set. He has known Reba for years and has always spoken so highly of her. So I definitely knew I was going into a safe space, but once I actually stepped foot there, I was like, “Okay, this is a really warm, good environment. I feel very comfortable and happy here.” No pun intended.

Would you like to reconnect with him on this show by guesting at the same time?

Of course. I mean, I love Steve. I love him on and off camera. He’s so much fun to work with and hang out with in general, especially on set. So yeah, that’d be a dream. I would love it.

Casey Durkin / NBC

Bobbie really wants her daughter to get along with Isabella, but the niece and aunt have a tough time connecting. What was it like finding common ground in Isabella and Gracie’s dynamic with Belissa Escobedo?

I definitely felt there was a big character growth in this one episode. When I read the script, I could see it, but I wanted to make sure it was received. Gracie starts at one note, her relationship with each character kind of evolves a bit, specifically with Reba and Belissa’s characters, and I wanted to make sure that you could see some heart in her and see the growth, which I had a really good time creating with Reba and Belissa.

Considering Gracie’s role as Bobbie’s daughter, did you approach the character with the idea that you might return down the line? Would you like to?

Yeah, definitely. We wanted to establish the energy between my character Gracie and everybody in Happy’s Place. So I wanted to make sure that was very much in the forefront of my mind and her toughness contrasts with her moments of vulnerability, which I feel makes her relatable and a multidimensional character.

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Bobbie and Gracie address the hurdles between them by facing their shared grief over the loss of a husband and father. Would you like to explore that story more onscreen? Perhaps there’s room for a flashback episode to introduce their family patriarch?

That would be a great idea and would bring a lot of explanation to who Gracie is and who Bobbie is now as well. [That] scene I felt was so beautiful on camera with Reba and an emotional one. It was one of the first scenes I shot that week with her, and it was rewarding. And I felt starting with that scene gave me a stronger point of view on my character, especially after doing it with Reba versus just preparing it on paper with my acting coach.

You star in The Conners, how did your experience on this multi-camera comedy differ from that?

Yeah, I definitely understand the multi-camera world pretty well. But I learned a lot from each performer and how warm the environment was, and we do our live shows on different nights, which also I thought was interesting to see the difference doing a show on a Tuesday versus a Friday.

Happy’s Place, Fridays, 8/7c, NBC