The original Penny on The Big Bang Theory was a very different character, but never made it past the unaired pilot. Kaley Cuoco played the only main female character in the series in its first three years, acting alongside Jim Parsons (Sheldon), Johnny Galecki (Leonard), Simon Helberg (Howard), and Kunal Nayyar (Raj). It wasn’t until season 4 that the show brought in Melissa Rauch’s Bernadette and Mayim Bialik’s Amy, which not only expanded The Big Bang Theory’s cast, but also increased the female representation in the sitcom. However, Penny does appear from the very first episode in 2007.
Prior to The Big Bang Theory’s official premiere, its unaired pilot had a significantly different cast of characters aside from Leonard and Sheldon. Penny, Raj, and Howard are missing, and in their place are two other female characters. Gilda, played by Iris Bahr, is reminiscent of Sara Gilbert’s Leslie Winkle, and Katie, portrayed by Amanda Walsh, is arguably the original incarnation of what would be Cuoco’s character. Creators Bill Prady and Chuck Lorre decided on scrapping Walsh’s part after her character got a negative response from the audience during test screenings.
The Original Penny Explained
Katie Was Played By Amanda Walsh
The unaired pilot shares several similarities with the eventual pilot episode of the show, including Leonard and Sheldon at the sperm bank, them meeting a beautiful woman and having her move in, and some initial struggles with communication between them. However, in the unaired pilot, the guys meet Katie as she is crying on the sidewalk, as a breakup means that she now has nowhere to live. She ends up moving in with them, because she needs a free place to stay, and gets drunk and complains about everything in her life.
Penny, on the other hand, is moving in across the hall from Sheldon and Leonard, and has a job to support herself, as well as dreams of being an actress. She has also recently broken up with her boyfriend, but isn’t anywhere near as tragic or helpless a figure as Katie is. She is also much nicer – while both characters are uninterested in ‘nerdy’ pursuits, Penny seems more bemused than mean. It’s also important to note that Penny ends up befriending the guys, despite the fact that she could ignore them, while Katie needs them to avoid being homeless.
The Original “Penny” Was Too Mean
Kaley Cuoco’s Penny Softened Her Interactions With The Other Characters
While Katie and Penny are similar, the viewers thought that the former was too harsh on the boys. While the issue was not with Amanda Walsh’s performance, the character of Katie was written as being a lot more antagonistic towards the two main characters. Given how quickly Leonard and Sheldon endeared themselves to fans, it is not surprising that Katie’s tendency to pick on them did not go over well. The great thing about Penny and how Cuoco played the part is that, despite her usual nonchalance towards the boys’ academic and nerdy interests, she wasn’t mean to them.
Penny might have cracked the occasional joke at their expense, but when it comes down to it, she’s a dependable friend to all of them. No matter how much Sheldon annoyed her or Howard annoyingly flirted with her, she offered her help when they needed it. Though Katie only appeared in one episode, and she could have changed over the course of The Big Bang Theory had she stayed, it was a bit off-putting seeing how she treated the two male key players in the series.
It’s difficult to tell if The Big Bang Theory’s popularity would still have exploded as it did if CBS moved forward with the show’s original pilot. However, looking back on its 12 years on the air, it’s difficult to imagine any other character filling the role that Penny did as the audience surrogate for the show. Admittedly, though The Big Bang Theory had some problematic treatment of her character, especially in the very early years of the sitcom, no one can deny that Cuoco had great chemistry with Parsons and Galecki, as well as the rest of the cast.
Penny Went On To Have The Best Arc In The Show
Where Penny Ended Up At The End Showed The Most Growth Of Any Other Character
Kaley Cuoco’s career skyrocketed after playing Penny on The Big Bang Theory — and her character arguably had the best arc on the show. It’s necessary for characters to change throughout an overarching narrative, and many of TBBT’s cast went through steep transitions and major life events. Most of the crew got married, with Howard and Bernadette having their own children, Amy and Sheldon getting wed, and Penny and Leonard starting their life together.
However, Penny’s character is night and day from the beginning of The Big Bang Theory to its finale. She started out as a flaky actress/waitress who truly showed more interest in her dating life than her ambitions. Over the course of the series, she slowly let go of her more intangible hopes and dreams to have a successful career and marriage. All in all, Penny changed the most out of everyone in the group, and it was obviously the right choice to cast her character over Katie in the pilot of The Big Bang Theory.
What Amanda Walsh Went On To Do After The Pilot
Walsh Has Continued To Find Jobs In Front And Behind The Camera
As the original version of Penny in The Big Band Theory’s pilot, it is easy to look at Amanda Walsh as an actor who lost out on a big opportunity. Indeed, it must be hard to star in a pilot for a show only to be replaced and see that show go on to become one of the biggest shows on television. However, the version of The Big Bang Theory that Walsh was a part of was likely never going to be a hit and Walsh has managed to maintain a solid career since then.
Though she never found the success of something like The Big Bang Theory, Walsh has continued to act ever since. As a sign that there was no bad blood following the reworked pilot for The Big Bang Theory, Walsh guest starred on Chuck Lorre’s other sitcom Two and a Half Men.
Walsh played Elizabeth Helm in the Canadian action series Lost Girl. She also appeared in several episodes of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and continues to have guest-starring roles on high-profile shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and, most recently, Lessons in Chemistry. Walsh is also a writer who was part of the team behind the Emmy-winning Schitt’s Creek.
