Reba McEntire, 69, makes ‘Voice’ debut, makes history as show’s oldest and most seasoned coach

The country queen, Blake Shelton’s long-hyped replacement, finally ascended to her red throne on the Season 24 premiere.

Reba McEntire dethrones reinging champ Niall Horan on The Voice Season 24 premiere. (NBC)

May 2023 marked the end of a Voice era, when the series’ most popular coach, Blake Shelton, finally exited the show after 23 consecutive seasons (nine of which he won). Actually, the instant that Blake announced his Voice retirement, way back in October 2022 — and then shamelessly milked his long goodbye for much of Seasons 22 and 23 — speculation began running rampant regarding which A-lister, presumably from Nashville, could possibly fill his big boots (or his big spinning chair).

Eventually, country mega-star (and last season’s Mega-Mentor) Reba McEntire was cast as Blake’s replacement — and on Monday’s The Voice Season 24 premiere, the redhead finally, officially ascended to her red throne.

Reba’s addition to the rotating (no pun intended) Voice cast was exciting for many reasons, not the least of which being the fact that at age 68, she made history as the series’ oldest and most experienced coach.

After so many early seasons when The Voice was dominated by alpha males Adam Levine and Blake’s bromance (it took until Season 11 for the show even have more than one female coach on the panel at the same time), and more recent seasons featuring Gen Z/millennial-baiting castings like Ariana Grande, Chance the Rapper, Camila Cabello, Nick Jonas, Miley Cyrus and even reigning champ Niall Horan, to see a talent-show judge who’s been in the business since before even Star Search was on the air was refreshing indeed.

Reba McEntire makes it official on The Voice Season 24 premiere. (NBC)
Reba received a welcome fit for a country queen, arriving to Monday’s premiere via horseback like some particularly memorable Bachelor contestant, ceremonially cutting the satin ribbon on her chair with a giant pair of Edward Scissorhands-style shears and flaunting a rhinestone-cowgirl tiara and matching scepter throughout most of the two-hour episode.

Niall — who joined Reba on the panel alongside returning on/off coaches John Legend and Blake’s other half, Gwen Stefani — kept calling himself “The King of The Voice” due to his recent victory, but it was obvious pretty early on in this premiere that he’d already been dethroned. At one point in the show, Reba even sat in Niall’s throne, on his lap, to establish her dominance.

Reba McEntire arrives on horseback to The Voice Season 24 premiere. (NBC)
All of Reba’s new rivals did their best to stay in the game — and, to their credit, they did manage to lure some of Monday’s singers away from Reba. Gwen dropped Blake’s name so often, that ought to be Season 24’s new drinking game.

Niall invoked Blake constantly as well, even playing various pre-recorded soundbites of Blake — who’d “passed the torch” to him last season — singing his praises. All three coaches offered snazzy recruitment incentives, too: a leather baseball jacket for Team Legend members, a checkered L.A.M.B. hoodie for Team Gwen, a colorful happy-face sweatshirt for Team Niall. But all Reba had to do was offer a less lasting prize, tater tots (yes, tater tots), to tempt contestants.

I will say, based on Monday’s premiere, other than that stunt when she practically literally knocked Niall out of his own chair, Reba doesn’t play nearly as dirty as her predecessor, Blake. That’s because she likely won’t have to. She can leave the shady gameplay to Blake’s successor, Niall, who explained Monday, “Blake taught me you do absolutely anything to get a team member.”