Why Kaley Cuoco’s Penny Is Lacking From Two The Huge Bang Concept Season 4 Episodes

The 5 unique foremost solid members on “The Huge Bang Concept” — specifically, Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, and Kaley Cuoco as Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, Howard Wolowitz, Raj Koothrappali, and Penny, respectively — seem in mainly each episode of the sequence, however there’s one main exception. Cuoco, an avid horseback rider, received critically injured throughout a journey in September 2010 — and in consequence, she missed two episodes of the present’s fourth season (particularly, the fifth and sixth episodes “The Desperation Emanation” and “The Irish Pub Formulation”).

As Jessica Radloff particulars in her 2022 e book “The Huge Bang Concept: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Collection,” Cuoco was driving at a ranch outdoors of Los Angeles when the horse unexpectedly threw her … and stepped on her left leg. (In response to the e book, she advised talk-show host Ellen Degeneres of the incident, “I did not really feel something, however then I seemed and I am like, ‘Wow, my foot’s going through me… that is not regular.'”) Cuoco was rushed to a hospital, and as “The Huge Bang Concept” creator Chuck Lorre advised Radloff, it was a tough time for the sequence.

“That was the darkest, most horrifying time in all twelve years,” Lorre recalled. “Kaley might have misplaced her leg. It was a sequence of miracles that allowed us to get via that and for her to return out the opposite finish of that wholesome.” Every thing ended up okay — thanks largely to Lorre’s connections, which I will circle again to momentarily — however it’s price noting that in Lorre’s 309th vainness card on the sequence, Lorre launched “new guidelines governing acceptable leisure actions for the solid of The Huge Bang Concept,” with the primary being, “No friggin’ horses. This consists of these discovered on merry-go-rounds and in entrance of supermarkets.”

For her half, Kaley Cuoco additionally advised Jessica Radloff that the expertise was terrifying … partly as a result of she signed a doc earlier than surgical procedure agreeing that docs might amputate her leg in the event that they completely wanted to. “Every thing ended up effective, and I used to be up and dealing per week later, however the docs acted like I used to be by no means going to stroll once more,” Cuoco recalled, remarking that she understood that the expertise was scary … and was simply glad all of it labored out okay. “It is nonetheless an excessive amount of for me to enter, and it sounded manner worse than it was. And naturally it was spiraling and everybody was freaking out, which I get. It scared individuals.” 

Not solely did Cuoco come out of this horrifying scenario together with her leg intact, she additionally had some weird priorities when she first awoke from her process. “My accident additionally occurred after we have been in the midst of one in all our greatest contract negotiations,” Cuoco advised Radloff. “I do not know what possessed me to say this — and it’s so f***ed up given how critical the harm was — however the minute I got here out of restoration from surgical procedure, I mentioned to Johnny, ‘Did the deal shut?’ And he mentioned, ‘Yeah, we received it.’ It had closed whereas I used to be in surgical procedure, and of all issues, that is what was on my thoughts. So horrible.”

So how did Chuck Lorre assist Cuoco out throughout her genuinely scary medical emergency? As he recalled within the e book, he was reeling over information of Cuoco’s harm when he unexpectedly ran right into a good friend, Dr. Stephen Lombardo, who simply so occurred to work in a significant orthopedic clinic at Cedars-Sinai Hospital. Lorre requested for the great physician’s help, which helped get Cuoco into surgical procedure quicker. “Nevertheless it was a completely miraculous intervention that I bumped into Dr. Steve on that golf course,” Lorre mused. “Each time I see him, I say, ‘Thanks! You saved Kaley! On a lesser stage, you saved ‘The Huge Bang Concept’!'”

Everyone knows that when actresses are pregnant, TV exhibits go to nice lengths to cover their rising bellies … and the identical was true for Kaley Cuoco after her orthopedic surgical procedure. Although she was cleared to return to work, she was in a boot, so Chuck Lorre and his workforce got here up with a really amusing answer.

“She was a trooper,” Johnny Galecki advised Jessica Radloff within the e book. “They put Kaley behind numerous issues on the set, just like the sofa or the bar, so that you could not see the boot.” So what bar was that? “We made her a bartender at The Cheesecake Manufacturing facility to cover her harm!” Lorre laughed. “And she or he was a horrible bartender! We simply needed to maintain her off her toes as a lot as doable. She’s a terrific actress, however she additionally trains like a world-class athlete. She performed aggressive tennis early in her life, and she or he’s ruthless about bodily conditioning, which I feel had lots to do together with her quick restoration.”

In response to Cuoco herself, there have been just a few different scenes that required some Hollywood trickery — like one together with her on-screen dad Wyatt (Keith Carradine) within the season 4 episode “The Boyfriend Complexity.” In a scene the place Penny “storms” into her bed room, Cuoco mentioned the crew got here up with one thing intelligent: “That isn’t me strolling to my bed room. That was the one occasion the place we used a physique double for me as a result of I had my boot on from the accident, so for those who look intently, you’ll be able to inform. They needed me to storm out, however I wasn’t in a position to stroll that quick but. And in all of the scenes in that episode, for those who pay shut consideration, I am not shifting. It is so sensible. So the one time I needed to actually transfer, it was a physique double.” In one other scene from that season, Cuoco says you’ll be able to see a boot hidden in Penny’s Surprise Lady costume for those who pay shut consideration. Clearly, everybody was extraordinarily fortunate that Cuoco recovered … and fortunate, the one actual final result of her harm was a handful of humorous anecdotes about filming.