Leaving things be. Steve Howey doesn’t have much interest when it comes to reviving some of his most beloved TV shows.
“I don’t know. I mean, there was a time where the producers and Reba [McEntire] were talking about redoing that show,” Howey, 45, revealed in an exclusive interview with Us Weekly while chatting about his new CBS series, True Lies. “I don t know if I would wanna play Van again.”
The actor played former football star and loving husband Van Montgomery on the hit sitcom Reba, which ran for six seasons from 2001 to 2007. But as for why he thinks his character shouldn’t be revived, he told Us, “I feel like Van would’ve grown up into, be like, the QAnon shaman or something,” referring to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Steve Howey at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, February 2023. Jordan Strauss/AP/Shutterstock
However, the Bride Wars star noted that he could also see Van go down a similar path to the one he did on the show, meaning he could just be “a real estate guy who just grows up.” JoAnna Garcia Swisher played Van’s wife Cheyenne, the eldest child of McEntire, 67, and Christopher Rich’s divorced couple Reba and Brock Hart. The series also starred Scarlett Pomers and Mitch Holleman as Kyra and Jake Hart, respectively, as well as Melissa Peterman as Brock’s second wife, Barbra Jean.
He feels the same way reviving the show Shameless, on which he played bartender Kevin Ball throughout its 11-season run from 2011 to 2021. But the Sons of Anarchy alum isn’t completely ruling out the chance of an onscreen reunion. “Maybe if we did, like, a one-episode, hour-long reunion, that would be kind of cool,” he shared.
Howey — who shares kids William, 13, Violet, 8, and Knox, 8, with ex-wife Sarah Shahi — continued: “Once you do something, I think it’s like, ‘Let it be.’ We are in the moment, you know? We can’t go back. We always think about this, right? All of us say, ‘Oh if I knew then what I know now.’ It’s a fantasy, so you can’t go back.”
But for fans that may be sad at the fact they may not see Kevin and the Gallagher family get together for a Shameless revival, they’d be happy to know that Howey and the cast continue to keep in touch.
The cast of ‘Shameless’. Eric Charbonneau/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
“I talk to Jeremy [Allen White] all the time. I was just at his house a couple weeks ago,” the Something Borrowed star stated. “I talk to Shanola [Hampton] all the time. I just FaceTimed, actually, Ethan Cutkosky — played Carl — he FaceTimed me to say hi. Every once in a while, I’ll talk to Emma [Kenney] and then Cameron [Monaghan], every once in a while. But yeah, we’re definitely still very close.”
It’s his experience working on both those shows that helped him prepare to take on his latest role, international spy Harry on True Lies. The series — based on the 1994 film of the same name starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis — also stars Ginger Gonzaga as his wife, Helen.
“I wouldn’t be able to play Harry if it wasn’t for my age, my experience and what I’ve been through,” the New Girl alum explained to Us. “I was not mature enough to pull this off. I like the idea of playing new things. … There’s so much that I haven’t done yet in my career that I can’t really, I haven’t even thought about looking back. I’m only looking now, present and then in the future.”
True Lies airs on CBS Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET.
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With reporting by Leanne Aciz Stanton