For The Big Bang Theory's twelfth and final season, fans were shocked when Kaley Cuoco's character, Penny, announced her pregnancy after Cuoco herself had been adamant about that not being the final story.
Fans were given the answers to all their questions and shown glimpses into the characters' future lives in the series finale. But, the show writers also threw in some last-minute surprises—one being Penny and Leonard having a baby.
Although many fans were delighted, most were left feeling confused. Penny had expressed not wanting kids, and the writers even went as far as creating multiple story arcs based on Penny's aversion to kids.
What The Show's Producers Really Thought About Penny Being Pregnant
Executive Producer of The Big Bang TheorySteve Molaro told Glamour, "We couldn't help but go back to the pilot when they met—which was such an early structural piece of the entire series." He continues, "And Leonard says that someday their babies would be smart and beautiful. It seemed to be a landing place that was satisfying."
With Penny's thoughts and feelings being discussed intimately throughout past seasons, this may have felt like a completely out-of-character thing to have to happen. But Molaro states how they thought about how those past arcs would come into play with the decision to make her pregnant.
"At the same time, we still tried to honor her feelings about having been against it earlier in the season," he stated.
When speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, executive producer Steve Holland said the decision really came down to Leonard's line in the pilot about their kids being "smart and beautiful." Holland said, "Their relationship was really the jumping-off point of this whole show, and it felt important to us to honor that relationship. I love them together, and I wanted to know that they were ending in a happy place."
The producer also revealed the idea for Penny to be pregnant was pitched by Molaro. He felt like this was an important decision in the couple's lives, "I like that we were able to jump over a lot of the pregnancy tropes and learn after the fact that Penny is two months pregnant. We did that [two-month] jump in time, and she's still wrapping her head around it because Penny wasn't sure how she felt about it."
How Did Kaley Cuoco Feel About The Decision?
Molaro and Holland both stated how Cuoco and her fellow costar Johnny Galecki, who played Leonard, were happy with the couple's ending.
However, Cuoco doesn't agree with her character's send-off. Three years after the ending, she spoke of her true feelings in the book The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series.
Cuoco says, "I actually wished that they did not [make Penny pregnant] because I loved that message [of Penny not wanting kids] so much." She goes on to say, "I was actually voting for her not to [get pregnant]."
Many fans felt the same as Cuoco. The couple—Penny and Leonard—had been disagreeing all season long about having children; it felt like the decision was taken from them, and the argument was never resolved because she had a surprise pregnancy.
Do The Producer's Regret it?
Holland and Molaro haven't made comments about regrets; they both admittedly support their decision to end Penny's story with her being pregnant.
However, in The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series, the show's creator Chuck Lorre spoke about his regrets about how Penny was portrayed. "One of the most underwritten characters in the show early on was Penny. It was really obvious immediately that we hadn't developed the character beyond the pretty girl next door, and Kaley was certainly capable of doing a great deal more than what was asked of her."
Cuoco has expressed her feelings on how Penny was overtly sexualized and made out to be the stereotypical dumb blonde. Penny was supposed to be a three-season character, but showrunners kept her after fan support, and they realized what Cuoco could achieve as an actress.
Lorre stated, "We had to make the character more fully realized. Not just for an episode, but always." He continued, "[Over time] Penny had an intelligence about people, about relationships, and about sussing out a situation and understanding the dynamics of what's going on in a room."
Penny was a fully fleshed-out character with thoughts and feelings that had been deeply explored in past seasons. The decision to end her story with something the character had been very much against felt like a betrayal to fans.
But Cuoco—even though she disagrees with the ending—said, "It was cute how the writers did it at the end with Penny's surprise pregnancy, and all in all, I'm glad."
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