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The Big Bang Theory went through a lot of changes before it became the 12 season hit. Marisa Tomei even read for an earlier version of Penny. Kaley Cuoco didn’t even get the Big Bang Theory role until an original actor was fired, and that wasn’t Tomei either. 

'Big Bang Theory': Penny (Kaley Cuoco) holds up a bottle and glass of wine
Kaley Cuoco | Michael Yarish/CBS via Getty Images

In Jessica Radloff’s new book, The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series, producers and stars discuss the hit show. Co-creator Bill Prady, Casting Director Nikki Valko and stars Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki remember filming with Jodi Lynne O’Keefe before she was fired. The Hollywood Reporter published this excerpt from the book in stores Oct. 11.

Before Kaley Cuoco was cast, the ‘Big Bang Theory Cast’ learned Jodi Lynne O’Keefe got fired suddenly

By the time The Big Bang Theory filmed the pilot with O’Keefe, they had gone through potential actors Tomei, Elizabeth Berkley, Tara Reid and Amanda Walsh. The Penny character was named Katie then. 

“We did that table read, and I thought Jodi was great,” Parsons told Radloff. “Afterward, me, Johnny, Jodi and Iris [Bahr] were going to meet at some restaurant. I was new to L.A. and got lost trying to find the place when Johnny texted me and said, ‘Hurry up, Jodi got fired.’ I mean, we had just done the table read 30 minutes earlier. Johnny, Iris and Jodi were already there when Jodi got a call from her agent saying she was being let go. I hadn’t done a ton of table reads in my career by that point, but I’m not an idiot — I know when someone’s not good. And Jodi was great. I was stunned.”

Galecki didn’t believe it at first either. 

“We were at a Mexican restaurant, and I got there first, and then Jodi walked in and told me she had been fired,” Galecki said. “I thought she was kidding. She was like, ‘No, I’m not kidding.’ I was like, ‘You’re a really good actress because there’s just no way.’ She finally convinced me that she was being honest, and I was like, ‘Sh**, let’s get you a margarita.’ And she said, ‘I don’t drink.’ I was like, ‘I’m so sorry! I just poured salt into the wound.”

‘The Big Bang Theory’ changed Katie to Penny

It was after O’Keefe read the pilot with the cast that the creators changed the female character on The Big Bang Theory. Cuoco had read for the original character and wasn’t right for it. Now Penny would be more of a Kaley Cuoco type. 

“But they realized during that table read that the character’s approach to the other characters was too harsh, too whatever, even though Jodi, in my opinion, nailed what they had written,” Parsons said.

Valko confirmed that O’Keefe was the perfect Katie. They just realized The Big Bang Theory needed Penny instead. 

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“Jodi Lyn O’Keefe was so good in the original pilot as Katie, but it was just a totally different character,” Valko said. “[Jodi] brought a darkness, which just didn’t work, so she was replaced after the table read. We had to recast in three days, so I remember holding auditions Easter Sunday.”

They brought Jodi Lynne O’Keefe back

Prady still wanted to work with O’Keefe and found a role for her on The Big Bang Theory. 

“Jodi is just a terrific actress, and she later appeared on the show as a prostitute that Wolowitz meets in Vegas,” Prady said. “Jodi is who you want if you want somebody who can give you a tough, street-hardened woman who plays that character real. She’s just a remarkable woman, and I love everything that she does. And Iris Bahr is a wonderful woman, and I’m still in touch with her.”

That just shows you how delicate the casting of a show can be. You can even make it to filming and not make it to air. And like Cuoco, you can lose an audition but things can come back around if it’s meant to be. 

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