Her name might be Sunny Barnes, but she’s got a dark side.
And it’s Reba unlike we’ve ever seen her before.
“I didn’t want to come on as Reba McEntire,” she tells EW.
ABC/Michael Moriatis
“I wanted to play somebody else.
I get to play me all the time.
I wanted to be a character, and to be a dark character is even better.”
What made you decide now was the time to return?
And this is a perfect timing situation.
Everything happens for a reason.
It is wonderful and we’ve had a blast.
Rex is playing your husband in the show and he’s your partner in real life.
How did that whole thing happen?
What do you think about that?"
And Rex was sitting right over there at the kitchen table.
He walked by and he said, “Elwood, that’s perfect.
That’s exactly what she needs to be doing.”
And Elwood said, “Rex, well, she needs a husband on the TV show.”
It all worked out for Rex and I to work together.
We’ve been having such a good time on it.
Is this the first time you’ve worked together extensively on camera?
No, we shot a Lifetime movie together.
It’s calledThe Hammer.It’ll be out in January.
And we loved working together.
And the first time we worked together was in 1991.
On theKenny Rogersmovie,The Gambler.
That’s where met.
And we’ve been talking ever since.
Number one, it’s out in the country.
It’s up in the mountains outside of Helena, Montana.
I said, “All righty then.”
Everything he said was, “Yes.
How are you finding playing that dark side?
We rarely get to see that from you.
In the first episode, I would give these this attitude and looks and stuff.
And it was just so much fun to play around with it.
It gets more juicy and thicker and richer.
I’ve just never got to do anything like this before.
Should we trust Sunny as viewers at home?
Will we get to see you sing at all as Sunny?
In the premiere, I sing a little bit, but nothing else has happened singing wise.
Not to say it won’t.
It’s just whatever they feel like if the timing is right.
There’s a lot of murder onBig Sky,always has been.
Do we think Sunny is more likely to be murderer or victim?
Or is she an equal opportunity gal?
(Laughs) Oh, that’s funny.
I’d say I don’t really know.
I can’t say on that one.
I know my way around horses and dirt and alfalfa hay and all that kind of stuff.
So, I didn’t do any research.
This is gorgeous.”
We’re like, “Oh, I want to have that in my house.
Out in the backyard.”
100 percent [a mama bear].
I would compare Sunny Barnes to a mama bear when you get in between her baby cub and her.
You’ve also played Annie Oakley multiple times.
Have any of those sharp shooting skills been useful?
The situation of guns hasn’t come up yet.
But I’d be comfortable with that.
I do trap and skeet shoot.
I learned that because of my role as Annie Oakley inAnnie Get Your GunandBuffalo Girls.
I’m very comfortable on the set and the outdoors.
I absolutely prefer the outdoors.
So, except for the dark side, you fit right in.
I’m wondering, do I fit really well in on that dark side too?
Is that something underlying that I’m just now finding out about?
Or have I been watching too many Bette Davis and Joan Crawford movies?
I love the idea of you channeling Bette and Joan.
I did that one day.
I looked over at Rex, and I said “Oh, that was Bette Davis right there.”
He said, “Yeah it was.”
Can you tease the premiere?
That’s where the plot thickens.
How much does Sunny know?
Does Buck know anything?
Does Cormac know anything?
He’ll show up."
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Big Sky: Deadly Trailspremieres Sept. 21 at 10 p.m.
