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It is laborious to make a profitable community tv present. It is even more durable to make a profitable spin-off of a profitable collection. Audiences have a sure expectation and, when it comes time to comply with one other character or two elsewhere, it might probably get difficult. However CBS hit it out of the park with “Younger Sheldon,” which centered on a younger Sheldon Cooper as he was rising up in Texas lengthy earlier than the occasions of “The Massive Bang Concept,” itself some of the profitable sitcoms of the 2000s.
As a result of “Younger Sheldon” takes place many years earlier than the occasions of the present that impressed it, it was troublesome to have characters from “The Massive Bang Concept” present up. Nonetheless, the present’s producers did handle to sneak Kaley Cuoco in through the collection’ third season for a stealthy cameo. Cuoco, after all, performed Penny on “The Massive Bang Concept” for the whole thing of its 12 season run, serving as an anchor of the ensemble.
When it got here time to sneak her into “Younger Sheldon,” although, it was all about Cuoco’s voice slightly than really having her seem on display. The second got here within the episode “Teenager Soup and a Little Ball of Fib,” which sees Sheldon (Iain Armitage) faking being sick to keep away from taking a swimming check at college. Cuoco wound up offering the voice of the pool water. In a 2020 interview with TVLine, collection co-creator Steve Molaro defined the way it all got here collectively:
“That was completely the voice of Kaley as pool water. I wanted somebody to do the voice. I knew I needed it to be feminine and kinda attractive, and I stated, ‘Properly, duh! Kaley is ideal for this.'”
So, how did Molaro promote this weird function to Cuoco? In any case, Cuoco has stayed fairly busy since “Massive Bang Concept” went off the air, voicing the title character in “Harley Quinn” and “The Flight Attendant,” amongst different initiatives. Even so, it was a straightforward sure from the actor:
“I stated, ‘Hey, I’ve a bizarre pitch for you: Sheldon has a nightmare, and he has to go to this pool, and he speaks to the pool water. Do you need to be the voice of pool water?’ She simply laughed and stated, ‘Completely, I do.'”
Kaley Cuoco’s Younger Sheldon cameo was stored a secret
Though the function was small and comparatively unusual, it was additionally an vital one. Cuoco turned the primary former “Massive Bang Concept” star to lend their abilities to the spin-off after Jim Parsons, who operated as an govt producer on the collection along with serving because the narrator. To assist shut out “Younger Sheldon,” Parsons ended up reprising his function as Sheldon within the flesh alongside Mayim Bialik’s Amy within the ultimate season. Setting that apart, although, Cuoco’s voice function was a pleasant contact for followers.
What’s fascinating is that CBS did not promote Cuoco’s cameo forward of the episode’s premiere. Would not the community have needed to focus on the return of a “Massive Bang Concept” star to the universe? Possibly, however as Molaro defined in the identical interview, everybody concerned in making the present agreed the second was all of the extra impactful as a result of it’d been stored secret:
“Generally I really feel slightly bizarre about issues being over-promoted, and as superior because it was, I do not know that that must be the type of factor that seems in promos. [Kaley] needed to carry it below wraps [as well], in order that should you figured it out, that was slightly Easter egg for you, so we have been all on the identical web page about that.”
The collection ended up working for seven seasons in complete, with “Younger Sheldon” season 7 concluding issues in 2024. Nonetheless, the bigger “Massive Bang Concept” universe lives on with one more spin-off within the type of “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.” Whether or not or not Cuoco or any of the opposite “Massive Bang Concept” stars make appearances on that present stays to be seen.
“Younger Sheldon” is streaming now on Netflix and Max, or you’ll be able to seize the whole collection on DVD from Amazon.
