Interview: Annie O’Donnell On Bringing The Wheelers Back to ‘Night Court’

Annie O’Donnell is a seasoned character actor with over forty years of experience in Hollywood. With roles on numerous television shows, as well as films such as Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Blast from the Past and Two Lives in Pittsburgh, she’s perhaps best remembered from her recurring role as the tragically unlucky June Wheeler on the hit ‘80s series Night Court. O’Donnell is returning to the courtroom, along side her onscreen husband, Brent Spiner, on NBC’s updated version of the beloved sitcom. 

O’Donnell began her career on stage, though the initial draw wasn’t necessarily the craft of acting. “I went to an all girls high school, and we didn’t know many boys,” said O’Donnell. “We had a prom coming up and the boys school down the street was having auditions for a variety show. My girlfriends and I all said, ‘Well, let’s go maybe we’ll meet some guys at the auditions.’ So, we so we went down to audition, though I had never sung in public. I started singing this song called “Young and Foolish” in my little voice, and I couldn’t hear myself because the musical director was playing the piano so loudly. I kind of got mad, and I started singing in this voice that I had never heard before, which was very, very strong. The people who were leaving the auditorium all turned around, came down and came back and sat down. And I got in the show. That was kind of how I how I started. That that first kind of applause moment reeled me in, though I did not get a date for the prom.”

After school, O’Donnell spent some time in New York, where she landed a role in the touring company of “Godspell.” She would eventually make her way to Los Angeles, but not without some initial hesitation. “When I was in New York, people often would say to me, ‘You should be in Los Angeles, you have a film face,’ though I didn’t know what that meant,” said O’Donnell. “But I really didn’t want to move to Los Angeles because I don’t know how to drive. I was on tour with “Godspell” for a year, and our last stop was at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. That’s when I decided to stay.” 

After gaining roles in a handful of television series and films, O’Connell landed an audition for Night Court. “I auditioned for Gilda Stratton, who was a wonderful casting director,” said O’Connell. “I did what I thought was right for the part, but she said, ‘Annie, I have a feeling they wanted more kind of deadpan.’ So I said, ‘Oh, okay. I hadn’t thought of that.’ So I did it for her that way, which worked. Had it not been for her direction, I would have not gotten the show. And this is a fun fact. I hope she doesn’t mind my telling you this. She retired as a casting director many, many years ago, but she came out of retirement to be my stand-in when we did the new Night Court. It was fantastic to see her and spend time with her. It was full circle moment.” 

The Wheelers were an instant hit with the audience, paving the way for return visits. “Our part was just supposed to be kind of a button on the episode,” said O’Connell. “Bad things were happening in the courtroom. The wonderful actress Susan Rattan was the main guest star. It was a very sad situation with her and her son, and [Judge] Harry [Stone] was getting more depressed by what was going on in the world. And then we come, in and we’re like the bottom of bad things happening. It was a nice scene, but it wasn’t an enormous. It was just one scene. And then it resonated so much with people that the next week they wrote us in to another show.”

O’Connell and Spiner would go on to appear five more times on the series in total, though it was intended to be more. “We would have been continued to be written in, but then Brent got a job on Broadway doing “Big River,” so he disappeared for a year,” said O”Connell. “Then he came back and we did two more. They were about to make us at least semi-regulars. The last episode that we did was season four’s “Her Honor: Part Two.” They had us by the newsstand in the commissary in last scene of the season, sitting at the table in the commissary with the series regulars. We had the last lines, and it said, “To be continued” under us. And then Brent got Star Trek. Who wouldn’t have accepted that job? I don’t know that we would have gotten a contract, at least right away, but we where at least going to be regulars. But here he was offered this fabulous contract that made his career. He’s felt little guilty about that for last 37 years.” 

While O’Donnell was thrilled to be asked to reprise her role as June Wheeler on the new incarnation of Night Court, she wasn’t entirely surprised, based on fan demands. “I had seen so many people online saying, ‘Where are the Wheelers. I really want to see the Wheelers,’” said O’Donnell. “So I thought, ‘Well, maybe.’ But then I thought, ‘Well, this is a new show, and they have new ideas of what they want to do.’ What was interesting is the casting director had me in for another nice guest star role on on the show, probably maybe a year ago. When I was introducing myself, I spoke about June Wheeler and how much I owed to the original show as far as putting me on the map. So, I don’t know if that triggered anything, or whether they had already been following the blogs or whatever. I kind of gave up on it, but I was guest starring on a show called “Not Dead Yet” on ABC, and I was in the dressing room waiting to go over to the set when my agent called to say that I was doing “Night Court.” It was it was pretty thrilling to get to get that call, because you never know what’s going to happen in this industry.”

For O’Donnell working with Spiner and John Larroquette was like stepping back in time. “It was so fantastic,” said O’Donnell. “I hadn’t seen Brent for probably 35 years or so. I was guest starring on Star Trek Deep Space Nine over Paramount when he was doing Star Trek: The Next Generation, and we ran into each other at lunch at the commissary, and that was basically the only time that we had seen each other in all that time. But when we arrived on the set of the new show, it was like no time had passed, as it does with old friends.  We just fell back into it. He’s such a wonderful guy and a fantastic actor. We just had so much fun. And John was John. He is fantastic and  such a brilliant comedian. This time he behaved himself, but during the old Night Court, he would try to make us laugh when his back was to the audience, because there was no way that we could smile or laugh with our characters. But it was was wonderful to see him. He gave me a great big bear hug and said, ‘I’m just so glad to see you back here.’ So it was really lovely.”

Night Court airs on NBC on Tuesday nights at 8:00 pm and is streaming on Peacock.