Interview: NIGHT COURT’s Annie O’Donnell discusses 40 years of ‘Wheeler chemistry’

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After 39 years, the Wheelers (Brent Spiner and Annie O’Donnell) returned in Season 2 of Night Court. The unlucky elderly couple’s return appearance was such a hit that they were invited back to the fan-favorite NBC series for tonight’s Season 3 episode, “A Few Good Hens.”

The Beat had the chance to talk with O’Donnell before the premiere of the latest episode of NBC’s Night Court on March 25, 2025. We discussed what it was like to work with Brent Spiner after nearly 40 years, her acting background, and if fans can expect to see the Wheelers in another season of the sitcom.

The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

OLLIE KAPLAN: I know you reprised the role of June Wheeler last season, but what has it been like to return to the character? And what drew you to reprising the role? Have there been challenges or any surprises?

ANNIE O’DONNELL: No challenges that I can think of. It was fun to gain another family member in this episode, and it’s just great to be back. I love being on the [Night Court] set with all those wonderful people. Melissa Rauch, who’s at the top, sets the tone for everything, and everyone is just kind, lovely, and very, very relaxing.

KAPLAN: That brings me to my next question: What was your dynamic with the rest of the cast?

One after the other, everyone is just lovely. There’s not a bad apple in the bunch. I mean, I’ve so enjoyed it. Of course, Brent and I have our Wheeler chemistry from 40 years ago, and Kate Micucci is a delight. Plus, now we have Andy Daly, who’s terrific, Melissa is the best person in show business, and her husband Winston is a doll. Then, there’s Wendie Malick, who’s fantastic, and John Larroquette. I love working with John; he’s a comic genius. Although I didn’t work much with Gary Anthony Williams, he’s terrific too. I mean, they’re all just wonderful, wonderful folks. It’s great; the whole feeling on the set is very loving, kind, and fairly relaxed, which is really nice. We don’t have that tension you sometimes feel on a set, you know?

(l-r) Brent Spiner as Bob Wheeler, Annie O'Donnell as June Wheeler, John Larroquette as Dan Fielding, Gary Anthony Williams as Flobert

KAPLAN: Can you share any particularly memorable moments from behind the scenes with us?

O’DONNELL: I can’t think of anything specific. It was just great catching up with Brent and his wife and John and his wife. We’ve led whole lifetimes between when we last saw each other, you know, before last season. Oh, and Kate, she is such a delight.

But, of course, my favorite is the cappuccino machine. I love the cappuccino machine.

KAPLAN: You’ve mentioned loving to work with Kate twice. So is there anything about that relationship that you particularly value?

O’DONNELL: Well, she’s just so amazing. She had a terrible health scare before we did the first episode, and she’s just so resilient, and she’s 100% healthy.

Kate’s just so talented. She has a musical career as well as an acting and comedy career. She’s just a darling person, and I’m happy to have her as my daughter. We were almost daughter and mother in The Big Bang Theory years ago, when I guess she was almost Amy, and I played Amy’s mother in the early episode. Then she ended up playing Lucy, and I played Billy Bob Thornton‘s mother in an offscreen guest appearance. And here we are. I guess we were destined to be mother and daughter.

KAPLAN: I knew you were supposed to be in The Big Bang Theory, but I forgot that Kate was.

O’DONNELL: Yeah, I think she did several episodes as Raj’s girlfriend. It’s a small world. Showbiz is a small world.

(l-r) Brent Spiner as Bob Wheeler, Annie O'Donnell as June Wheeler, John Larroquette as Dan Fielding

KAPLAN: I’m curious about Brent because you guys worked together years ago, and you’re saying there’s a lifetime of experience you both had between then and now. Did that change your dynamic at all?

O’DONNELL: I don’t think so; it’s just different. I mean, we both led long lives in between our last appearances. At the time, we were both young, single people. Now, he’s a married man with a grown-up child, and I’m a widow having been married to a minister for 25 years. But our chemistry just popped back in, even though we had only seen each other once in the 35 or 40 years between our Night Court appearances. It’s pretty amazing. Of course, it helps that he’s a fantastic actor. And he’s very committed to his characters.

KAPLAN: Can you tell me anything about when you guys met up in the intervening years?

O’DONNELL: Oh, yeah. [Laughs.] Brent, of course, has apologized to me for ruining my career. We were probably about to become series regulars, or at least very, very heavily recurring guest stars on the original Night Court, when he got cast in Star Trek: The Next Generation—that was the end of the Wheelers, even though we had just bought the newsstand at the commissary. So, later on, while he was filming The Next Generation and I was guest starring on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, we ran into each other at the commissary at Paramount. Although that was the only time we had seen each other face to face until the Night Court reboot, we still had the Wheeler chemistry when we saw each other again. It just popped into place.

KAPLAN: The commissary is an important spot for the two of you.

O’DONNELL: You’re right. I hadn’t thought about that. Well, I do like to eat.

So, yeah, he was with his [TNG] cast. He introduced me and apologized yet again. I said, “Well, if I had been given the opportunity to be one of the stars of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I would have taken it too, Brent, so don’t worry about that.” Anyhow, showbiz and life are funny things, both on and off-screen.

KAPLAN: If there’s another season of the reboot, would you want to return?

O’DONNELL: I’d love to, fingers crossed. Melissa and Winston would like that, and John would like that. John likes the Wheelers, I think, because we’re the old guard from back in the day. I think he feels that, though I shouldn’t speak for John, he is close to the Wheelers and is one of the producers. So let’s see if we’re all lucky enough to get a fourth season because then I think it might happen, and I’m in for it. That’s for sure.

(l-r) Wendie Malick as Julianne Walters, Brent Spiner as Bob Wheeler, Annie O'Donnell as June Wheeler, John Larroquette as Dan Fielding

KAPLAN: Yeah. It’s not just John who loves the Wheelers; the audience loves them, too.

O’DONNELL: I think John enjoys coming face to face with the Wheelers. We are good foils for John. And it’s fun because it almost brought me to tears when we came back last season. The reception from the in-studio audience was just amazing, so many of them must have been original Night Court fans. So that was lovely, quite a wonderful experience. Both times that I’ve done the reboot of Night Court have been very special to me.

KAPLAN: What was it like to return to filming in front of a studio audience? It’s not that common anymore.

O’DONNELL: That was interesting because I hadn’t done that in a while. Not as many audience sitcoms anymore, you know? There’s some, but not that many. So I had a little trepidation about that before actually getting there. Then, everybody in the cast, crew, producers, and director was so welcoming that trepidation went away very quickly. And I’m happy to say I don’t think I screwed up.

But yeah, except for the stage work I did a long time ago, most of the stuff I’ve done more recently has just been for the camera, and it’s a different ballgame.

KAPLAN: It seems that if you’re acting in front of a live studio audience and it’s getting filmed, you’re kind of serving two masters. When I see actors onstage acting, the performance is so different.

O’DONNELL: It does change how you prep for the role, I guess. It is very different. When I did the first episode of the reboot of Night Court, my agent and his wife wanted to come, and I said, “I don’t want to know about it. If you want to come, here’s the phone number to call.” I hate to know who’s in the audience, and I’ve always been like that. It can distract you, and I don’t want to be distracted when I’m doing a sitcom with an audience, a stage play, or a musical, you know? Please come and enjoy the show, but tell me afterward that you were there. So yeah, it’s a little different because it can get into your head if you’re thinking, “Oh, George is going to like this line,” or whatever… an actor’s life can be strange.

KAPLAN: What were some of your biggest influences growing up, both in terms of acting and life?

O’DONNELL: Well, when I was very little, I retreated into… I became Annie Oakley. I guess I had seen the movie and would play out all those scenes in my bedroom. Then, when I was doing stage work, I had the opportunity to work with Imogene Coca, who became a mentor to me when I was fairly young, like in my twenties. She was an amazing person and helped me a lot. You know, that was at the time when we didn’t talk about mentors, but she was to me.

We did a play in Philadelphia together, and she was invaluable to me. She insisted on my sharing her dressing room with her. She had a makeup and hair artist and insisted on sharing that with me, too. She also helped me when I was having a little problem with one of the scenes in the play; she just told me exactly what to do. So I was very blessed to have that in my life, to have her, probably one of the greatest comic actresses of all time, take an interest in me as an actor—you know, it was lovely.

KAPLAN: Do you remember the name of the play?

O’DONNELL: It was called The Rivals, and it was quite the show. It was a restoration comedy. She played Mrs. Malaprop, and I played Lucy, the Irish maid, and it was quite a cast, John McGiver and Ray Walston, amazing, amazing people in that cast. It was at the Philadelphia Drama Guild, and although I had been living in New York, I was cast anyway and went back to my hometown to do it, which was wonderful.

Well, I have to give a plug. I have a movie that’s running on all the platforms for free, I believe, on Amazon, Apple, and whatever. It’s called 2 Lives in Pittsburgh, and we have won major awards at film festivals nationwide. I’ve won some myself and have one of the leads in it. It’s a fantastic, independent, low-budget film, so I’m plugging it. We didn’t have a lot of money for advertising, but I think you’d enjoy it. It’s a very timely topic, and it’s very funny and very heart-wrenching at the same time. So there’s a lot going on. Brian Silverman, who wrote it, directed it, produced it, and plays my son in it, is fantastic, and it was a wonderful experience. It’s my favorite film role, and June Wheeler is my favorite TV role. I’ve been very, very blessed in the last year or two of my life to have done some wonderful things and opportunities.

KAPLAN: That’s awesome, and I’m glad you could plug it.

O’DONNELL: I feel cheesy doing it, but if I don’t plug it, who will plug it? So I’m happy to have the platform to do it.

(featured image: Photo Credit: Nicole Weingart/NBC)

Episodes of Night Court Season 3 air on Tuesdays at 8:30/7:30c on NBC. If you’re unable to watch it live, new episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.