Why The Original Penny Actress Was Replaced By Kaley Cuoco

Penny is one of the most important characters on "The Big Bang Theory"... But she almost came out entirely different.

Transcript

00:00Penny is one of the most important characters on The Big Bang Theory,

00:04but she almost came out entirely different. Played by The Flight Attendant star Kaley Cuoco,

00:09Penny provides more than just entertainment value in the sitcom.

00:12For one, she helps Sheldon and Leonard develop their social skills and ultimately live fuller

00:17lives. Of course, there's also a fun appeal to the juxtaposition of Penny's character,

00:21an aspiring actress and Cheesecake Factory server, in comparison to her academic neighbors.

00:26However, that wasn't always the case. During an appearance on Dinners on Me with Jesse

00:31Tyler Ferguson, Jim Parsons discussed changes made to the original Big Bang Theory pilot,

00:36and one of them would have made Penny a totally unviable character. As he said on the podcast,

00:41they didn't get the character that Kaley ultimately played right the first time.

00:45Penny's character went through numerous rewrites during the pilot episode.

00:49Originally, when she first met Sheldon and Leonard, she was a savvy, street-smart

00:52manipulator rather than the kind-hearted girl-from-the-Midwest fans are used to.

00:57As Parsons elaborated on Dinners on Me,

00:59"...it was done in a much more vicious way, like in the original pilot,

01:03Leonard and Sheldon come across her crying on the corner, boyfriends dumped her or whatever,

01:07and like she kind of lassos in, kind of puts one over on us in order to have a place to stay."

01:12From the sounds of it, there wasn't a believable, heartfelt connection between the three main

01:16characters, which is ultimately what makes the show work. The show was also supposed to be set

01:21on the East Coast, which wouldn't have made sense for Penny as she moved from Nebraska to

01:24California to become an actor. Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady may have created the Big Bang Theory,

01:29but Kaley Cuoco deserves a lot of credit for shaping Penny into the character so many fans

01:34have come to know and love. As Prady told Entertainment Weekly,

01:38"...in the first pilot, the female character is kind of rough.

01:40She's dangerous in a way and wasn't very nice to the guys."

01:44"...Okay, you guys can buy me dinner, but that's the end of it."

01:49"...The end of what?"

01:52And the test audience who watched that first pilot was not impressed with the original Penny.

01:56In fact, they allegedly hated her. The street-smart East Coast version of Penny was actually called

02:01Katie, and she was played by a completely different actor. Amanda Walsh, who later ended

02:06up working as a writer on Schitt's Creek, had the job of bringing Katie to life, but ultimately,

02:11her version of the character just didn't work. Walsh was happy, however, that the show moved in

02:15a completely different direction from what had been set out in the pilot script. As she said in

02:19The Big Bang Theory, the definitive inside story of the epic series, the fact that it wasn't

02:24immediately picked up and there was such retooling made it an easier pill to swallow. While it's easy

02:29to wonder what if, there's no denying that The Big Bang Theory would have been a very

02:33different series without Cuoco as Penny, and who knows if it would have lasted 12 seasons without

02:37her.