“It feels like we were waiting for the right cast, the right time, and we’re ready,” Melissa Peterman said of reuniting with her ‘Reba’ costar Reba McEntire for NBC’s ‘Happy’s Place’

Melissa Peterman and Reba McEntire are reuniting!

Peterman, 53, and McEntire, 69, stopped by PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly‘s red carpet ahead of the 2024 Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15. The pair teased some of the fun behind their new NBC sitcom Happy’s Place, which comes more than a decade after the end of their sitcom Reba went off the air.

“I think that the chemistry that we have, that dynamic, it’s there, so we’re bringing that to Happy’s Place,” Peterman said. “We have new characters, it’s a new situation, so the chemistry is still there. It’s that same dynamic that people want to see. We talked about it, that we’ve been waiting a long time, and this time feels right. It feels like we were waiting for the right cast, the right time, and we’re ready.”

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Melissa Peterman (left) and Reba McEntire at the 2024 Emmys on Sept. 15, 2024.Frazer Harrison/Getty

“When we were auditioning everybody she happened to be at the front of the line, I don’t know why she was,” Reba joked about the show’s casting process elsewhere during their appearance on the red carpet. Her joked led Peterman to respond, “Wait – you auditioned other people?”

Melissa Peterman (left) and Reba McEntire on Sept. 15, 2024.Frazer Harrison/Getty

“I’m just hearing this for the first time. I thought you’d been waiting to reunite with me for decades,” Peterman joked, to which McEntire responded, “That’s the story I’m going with.”

The costars attended Sunday’s ceremony to present the award for best scripted variety series.

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Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman (right) on ‘Reba’ circa 2006.Fox Television/Courtesy Everett Collection

“I’m nervous – I really am. I really am, this is a big deal for me,” Peterman said of attending the Emmy Awards. “I mean I’m going to have fun, but this is a big deal for me. I’ve been watching this show in sweatpants on my couch for so many years and just to be here – and I’ve said it before, I love TV and I love the people who make it. I’m fans of everyone here, so it is a big deal.”

Happy’s Place premieres on NBC Oct. 18.

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