Call it lightning in a bottle, Jim Parsons says of his comeback role in the Big Bang Theory spinoff series.
The Big Bang Theory‘s Penny might be an integral part of the show today, but co-creator Chuck Lorre believes it took the audience a while to fully understand her. Played by actor Kaley Cuoco, Penny was among the central cast of the cult classic American sitcom.
During the first episode of The Official Big Bang Theory Podcast, Lorre said Penny “is a cliched character: the dumb blonde and we missed it.” Penny was an aspiring actress who lived across the door to Sheldon and Leonard. Interestingly, she entered the show after Lorre penned a “do-over” pilot following a failed attempt at shooting its first version that never aired. It originally featured two other female leads, Gilda played by Iris Bahr, and Katie played by Amanda Walsh.
Penny in The Big Bang Theory
Lorre stated, “We didn’t have that right away, that what she brought to this story, this series, to these other characters was an intelligence that they didn’t have. A kind of intelligence that was alien to them, an intelligence about people and relationships and family.”
It was only later that Lorre realised the dynamics of Penny and the freshness she brought to the show. According to him, she worked because of her unique relationship with Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), and Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki).
Uniqueness of the character
“She was never judgmental about these characters. She was bemused by that. They brought more judgment to her than she did ever of them. And I thought that was also an important difference between the character of what Penny brought versus the character of what Katie brought in the original unaired pilot,” Lorre said.