The Big Bang Theory‘s Kaley Cuoco: ‘I Will Cherish’ the Series Finale’s Big Penny Moment ‘For the Rest of My Life’
The Big Bang Theory gave Penny a handful of memorable moments in Thursday’s series finale, but as far as Kaley Cuoco is concerned, one scene stands head and shoulders above the rest.
As Cuoco tells TVLine, she nearly did a spit take when she learned that Penny would be the first Big Bang character to ride the apartment building’s long-broken, now-repaired elevator. “The fact that I got that moment.. I will cherish that for the rest of my life,” she declares, before noting that the studio audience at the taping “screamed for like five minutes” when the elevator doors opened and Penny was revealed to be inside.
In fact, Cuoco admits that Penny serving as the centerpiece of the elevator moment “surprised me more than Penny being pregnant!”
Showrunner Steve Holland, meanwhile, tells TVLine that he gave Penny the “big moment” because it “just felt right for the story.”
The elevator reveal was originally intended to arrive “later in the [second] episode,” Holland shares. “But as we were breaking the story, it just felt like this was a great time to do it. And I think it was more of a surprise coming so early in the penultimate episode rather than the last episode.”
The elevator reveal was perfect because I think everyone expected it at the very end.
It was one of those moments that didn’t surprise me yet completely and totally surprised me. I thought they’d do it, but the how and the when caught me off guard. Loved it!
Yes. It was done perfectly! That was one of the best parts of the finale.
I’m happy they did it in the first half-hour because I think it may have been lost in the second half-hour and it allowed for them to do the full elevator gag on their way to the airport.
I love that even with a working elevator they still had to walk down the stairs on their way to Sweden.
Also agree, perfection!
Was anyone else thinking the elevator might break again with all the people and luggage jammed into it for the trip?
Yeah, I thought they had done the elevator scene early in order to facilitate doing a “it breaks again” scene towards the end of the second half.
Great hour all around!
If you really want to be accurate, Leonard was the first to ride the elevator in season 3 in the “The Staircase Implementation” (but it was still a great moment)