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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 sequence. Audiences have a sure expectation and, when it comes time to comply with one other character or two elsewhere, it could possibly get tough. However CBS hit it out of the park with “Younger Sheldon,” which targeted on a younger Sheldon Cooper as he was rising up in Texas lengthy earlier than the occasions of “The Huge Bang Idea,” 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 Huge Bang Idea” present up. Nonetheless, the present’s producers did handle to sneak Kaley Cuoco in throughout the sequence’ third season for a stealthy cameo. Cuoco, after all, performed Penny on “The Huge Bang Idea” for the whole lot 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 somewhat than really having her seem on display screen. 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 take a look at in school. Cuoco wound up offering the voice of the pool water. In a 2020 interview with TVLine, sequence 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, ‘Nicely, duh! Kaley is ideal for this.'”
So, how did Molaro promote this weird function to Cuoco? In spite of everything, Cuoco has stayed fairly busy since “Huge Bang Idea” went off the air, voicing the title character in “Harley Quinn” and “The Flight Attendant,” amongst different initiatives. Even so, it was a simple 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
CBS
Although the function was small and comparatively unusual, it was additionally an essential one. Cuoco turned the primary former “Huge Bang Idea” star to lend their skills to the spin-off after Jim Parsons, who operated as an government producer on the sequence 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 closing 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 “Huge Bang Idea” 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:
“Typically I really feel a little bit bizarre about issues being over-promoted, and as superior because it was, I do not know that that ought to be the type of factor that seems in promos. [Kaley] needed to carry it underneath wraps [as well], in order that if you happen to figured it out, that was a little bit Easter egg for you, so we have been all on the identical web page about that.”
The sequence ended up working for seven seasons in whole, with “Younger Sheldon” season 7 concluding issues in 2024. Nonetheless, the bigger “Huge Bang Idea” 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 “Huge Bang Idea” 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 sequence on DVD from Amazon.