With each profitable, long-running sitcom, there’s often not less than one individual left behind within the early levels who may’ve had a large career-defining function however misplaced it for one cause or one other. “All the time Sunny,” for example, virtually had Jordan Reid enjoying Dee, however she ended up departing from the sequence resulting from some messy real-life relationship drama with Rob McElhenney. It is fascinating partially due to what it tells us concerning the model of the present we virtually had, but in addition as a result of it is arduous to not really feel dangerous for Reid, who missed out on a extensively beloved (and really profitable) half, one which simply surpasses each one she had earlier than or after.
Even with common casting conditions, it is simple to sympathize with all of the individuals who missed out on a life-changing function. What occurred to the child who was second-up to Daniel Radcliffe for “Harry Potter,” or the children who simply barely missed the reduce for “Stranger Issues”? It is gotta be even tougher for the individuals who made all of it the best way to the filming stage, as was the case with Amanda Walsh in “The Huge Bang Principle.”
It seems that earlier than “The Huge Bang Principle” was a present a couple of group of nerdy guys and their pleasant feminine neighbor Penny, performed by Kaley Cuoco, the present was a couple of group of nerdy guys and their imply new neighbor Katie (Walsh). Kate was far much less charmed by their geeky conduct and way more prepared to make the most of their maidenless methods. Because the present’s co-creators, Invoice Prady and Chuck Lorre, defined in a 2022 Leisure Weekly interview, this dynamic performed poorly with take a look at audiences, and Walsh needed to go away the present due to it.
The issue was the character, not Walsh
“Within the first pilot, the feminine character (who, at that time, was named Katie) is sort of tough. She’s harmful in a method and wasn’t very good to the fellows,” Invoice Prady defined. He recalled listening to the primary take a look at screening reactions, saying, “They hated her, however what was superb was that they had been defending Leonard and Sheldon a lot.” Chuck Lorre confirmed Prady’s recollection, and added:
“Yeah, we did not notice early on that the viewers seen them as kids. They had been very naive and childlike, no matter how clever they had been. They had been very susceptible, and the viewers did not need a poisonous presence round them. That is why we rewrote Katie to turn out to be Penny and made her way more charmed by the fellows and sort to them, versus a girl who would make the most of them.”
Though they’re each pleased with how the change turned out, they each appear to really feel dangerous over how Walsh needed to go away. “She was terrific within the function, however the function was misconceived,” Lorre stated. Prady concurred: “She was truly a really candy individual, and it was loads of work for her to turn out to be that tough character. Afterward, she needed to come back again in for the brand new model of Penny, however she had been so recognized as that first character that it wasn’t capable of occur.”
The place’s Amanda Walsh now?
Though the showrunners believed that the issue with Katie was purely a writing drawback, not an appearing one, CBS nonetheless requested them to rent a unique actor. The result’s that we bought to get pleasure from 12 seasons of Cuoco’s Penny, a charmingly sympathetic character who helps carry the gang out of their insular existence whereas additionally studying to understand the nuances of geek tradition herself.
The excellent news for Walsh is that, not like Jordan Reid (who by no means fairly bought a giant hit after leaving “All the time Sunny”), Walsh appears to have executed completely nicely for herself. She’s starred in tasks like “Disturbia,” “Misplaced Lady,” “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Company,” and was a author on two seasons of the hit sitcom “Schitt’s Creek.” She’s additionally spoken a bit about her expertise with “The Huge Bang Principle,” and has made it clear that though the information of her substitute undoubtedly stung, it wasn’t the tip of the world for her. As she defined to the writer of “The Huge Bang Principle: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Sequence,” there have been no arduous emotions between her and the present’s creator:
“Invoice was as good as attainable about the entire thing. After which I used to be actually lucky {that a} yr later, [director James] Burrows employed me for an additional pilot known as ‘The Mastersons of Manhattan with Molly Shannon and Natasha Richardson.’ For me, that basically validated the notion of ‘It is not you,’ as a result of as an actor, you all the time query that. So, to get rehired by the identical individuals for an additional large undertaking was very, very validating.”
