Despite appearing in over 200 episodes across 12 seasons of "The Big Bang
Theory," there's a lot we don't know about Penny. What's her maiden name?
Why haven't we ever seen her sister? Stick around to learn the untold truth about Penny.
A common misconception about Penny is that her maiden name was never revealed
before she married Leonard and took his last name, Hofstadter. However, Penny's last name
is actually revealed in the Season 2 episode "The Work Song Nanocluster," when Penny gets
a package delivered as she's attempting to start her own company. On the packing label,
her full name — Penny Teller — is visible. You definitely have to squint a little bit,
but upon a close-up inspection of the package, it looks like it's addressed to a "Teller."
What's most interesting about this little tidbit of information is that in 2019,
at WonderCon's panel for "The Big Bang Theory," when executive
producer Steve Molaro was asked about Penny's last name, he responded,
"We got nervous and superstitious about giving her one."
Perhaps he forgot about that blink-and-you'll-miss-it detail from Season 2.
Penny is a character who likes to talk, and her family is one of her favorite subjects.
Penny tells plenty of stories about her colorful childhood, and one character
who comes up frequently is her sister Lisa. Audiences know that Lisa is married, has a son,
and that she discovered Penny's ex-boyfriend's blog that detailed his love life with her.
"My friends at work found it, my sister found it. Judging by my email,
a number of prisoners at the Michigan State Penitentiary found it."
Despite the repeated references, audiences have never actually seen Lisa.
She didn't even make it to Penny and Leonard's wedding, which feels exceptionally odd. Judging
from the number of times Penny mentions Lisa in the series, they seem close.
And yet, somehow the audience meets Penny's brother Randall — a meth
dealer who spends the majority of the show in prison — instead of her sister.
The literal geniuses of "The Big Bang Theory" can be difficult for most audience members to
relate to, so Penny serves as someone that viewers can connect with. However,
Penny wasn't always meant to be part of the ensemble. In the original, unaired pilot, Penny's
role on the show is filled by Katie, a completely different character played by Amanda Walsh.
According to ComicBook, Katie was described as being, quote,
"a street-hardened, tough-as-nails woman with a vulnerable interior." However,
all the networks passed on this Penny-less version of the show, including its eventual home,
CBS. In a DVD special feature, actress Kaley Cuoco revealed that when she originally auditioned for
"The Big Bang Theory," she didn't get the part, as Katie was more of a brooding character.
But once the show cut Katie and replaced her with Penny, Cuoco was a lock for the gig.
Kaley Cuoco told Variety that she was brought into a meeting and told that she would be
saying goodbye to Penny sooner than expected. Cuoco recalled that it was the summer of 2018
and the cast had just started shooting for Season 12. She and co-star Johnny Galecki
assumed the meeting was about the next season, and she remembers the two actors being excited
to continue with their characters. Of course, the conversation went in a different direction.
Jim Parsons, who played Sheldon, said he was ready to move on from the show.
Then creator Chuck Lorre announced if they weren't all in, it made sense to end the series.
Season 12 would be the final season, leaving Cuoco in what she described as "a state of shock."
She noted that there were many tears, especially in the final episode, from the
entire cast and crew. She also shared that her father attended every taping that season.
"You know, I just want the elevator to get fixed."
"What a finale. What a way to go out."
"The Big Bang Theory" had a total of 279 episodes across its 12-season run,
and the entire main cast appeared in every single one. Except for Penny,
that is. That's because Kaley Cuoco broke her leg and had to miss some tapings.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Cuoco was horseback riding and was thrown off her horse.
She initially laughed the moment off, but the horse was still spooked by the
incident and attempted to jump over the actress,
landing on her leg by accident. Cuoco was immediately taken to the hospital, where the
doctors were so concerned about infection that they even brought up the option of amputation.
Luckily, they ended up putting two metal bars into her leg instead,
resulting in a two-week hospital stay that mandated Penny be written out of two "Big
Bang Theory" episodes. Once Cuoco returned to set, the writers gave Penny a bartending
job so that she could be shot from the waist up, hiding her injured leg behind the counter.
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