The Weird Kaley Cuoco Cameo You May Have Missed in New Sheldon

Creating a successful network television show is difficult. It's even more difficult to create a branch of a successful series. Audiences have certain expectations, and when it comes time to follow another character or two elsewhere, it can get tricky. But CBS knocked it out of the park with “Young Sheldon,” which focused on young Sheldon Cooper as he grew up in Texas long before the events ofThe Big Bang Theory, one of the most successful comedies of the 2000s.

Because “Young Sheldon” takes place decades before the events of the show that inspired it, it was difficult to feature characters from “The Big Bang Theory.” However, the show's producers managed to sneak Kaley Cuoco into the third season of the series for a secret cameo. Cuoco, of course, played Penny on “The Big Bang Theory” for its entire 12-season run.which serves as the anchor of the ensemble.

However, when it came time to sneak her into The Young Sheldon, it was all about Cuoco's voice, not her presence on screen. This moment came in the episode “Teenage Soup and a Little Fibba Ball”, which saw Sheldon (Iain Armitage) pretending to be sick to avoid taking a swimming test at school. Cuoco ended by providing the voice of the pool water. in the 2020 interview with TVLineseries co-creator Steve Molaro explained how it all came together:

“It was absolutely Kayleigh's voice like pool water. I needed someone to play it. I knew I wanted it to be feminine and sexy, and I was like, 'Well, what!' Kayleigh is perfect for that.”

So how did Molaro sell this quirky role to Cuoco? After all, Cuoco has been pretty busy since The Big Bang Theory came off the air, voice the title character in the movie “Harley Quinn” and “The Flight Attendant” among other projects. Nevertheless, it was easy on the part of the actor:

“I said, 'Hey, I've got a weird pitch for you: Sheldon has a nightmare and he has to go to this pool and he talks to the pool water.' Do you want to be the voice of the pool water?” She just laughed and said, “I sure do.”

Although the role was small and relatively odd, it was also important. Cuoco became the first former “Big Bang Theory” star to donate her talents to the foundation after Jim Parsons, who served as an executive producer on the series in addition to serving as narrator. To help wrap up “Young Sheldon,” Parsons ended up reprising his role as Sheldon in the flesh alongside Mayim Bialik's Amy in the final season. That aside, though, Cuoco's voice role was a fan favorite.

Interestingly, CBS did not promote Cuoco's episode before the episode premiered. Wouldn't the network have wanted to emphasize the “Big Bang Theory” star's return to the universe? Maybe, but as Molaro explained in the same interview, everyone involved in the making of the show agreed that the moment was all the more powerful because it was kept secret:

“Sometimes I feel a little weird about things being promoted too much, and as great as it is, I don't know if it should be something that's in the commercials. (Kaley) wanted to keep it under wraps (as well), so that if you got it, it was a little Easter egg for you, so we were all on the same page.”

The series ran for a total of seven seasons, with “Young Sheldon” season 7 ending in 2024. However, the larger universe of “The Big Bang Theory” continues to live on another spin-off in the form of Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage. Whether Cuoco or any of the other “Big Bang Theory” stars will appear on the show remains to be seen.

“Young Sheldon” is now streaming on Netflix and Max, or you can get the entire series on DVD from Amazon.