LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kaley Cuoco is making a big move after wrapping 12 seasons with “The Big Bang Theory,” with a new production deal and a pivot from comedy to drama. Cuoco has signed an exclusive, multi-year deal with Warner Bros. Television Group, the company said Monday. The agreement keeps Cuoco in business with the studio that produced “The Big Bang Theory,” the CBS comedy in which Cuoco played Penny. It ended its hit run last May.
In a statement, Cuoco said she was excited to continue an “incredibly collaborative and gratifying relationship” with Warner, adding, “They’re stuck with me now! financial terms of the deal were not announced. Her first announced project is the hour-long series “The Flight Attendant,” a thriller based on the novel of the same name by Chris Bohjalian. It will be made for the WarnerMedia streaming service set to launch for consumers in early 2020. Under the deal, Cuoco and her production company will develop ideas for original TV projects through various Warner TV group divisions.
The projects will be aimed at platforms including broadcast, cable and streaming, the company said. A holding agreement for Cuoco’s acting services is part of the overall deal, with Warner developing new series with her in mind. The company and Cuoco, 33, signed a previous deal in 2017. Kaley Cuoco has been on TV for most of her life, including guest spots in the 1990s on such shows as “My So-Called Life,” “Northern Exposure” and “Ellen” (where she played a young version of star Ellen DeGeneres).
Her breakthrough was playing Bridget Hennessy, the daughter of TV icons John Ritter and Katey Sagal’s characters, on the ABC series “8 Simple Rules … for Dating My Teenage Daughter” — but then came Cuoco’s Big Bang. After 12 years of playing Penny on “The Big Bang Theory,” which became TV’s most-watched sitcom and ultimately earned her $1 million per episode, Cuoco was in the same space a lot of TV stars are in after the end of their long-running shows. Do you take a break? Tackle movies? Attempt to top that once-in-a-lifetime TV mountaintop?
After 12 years of playing Penny on “The Big Bang Theory,” which became TV’s most-watched sitcom and ultimately earned her $1 million per episode, Cuoco was in the same space a lot of TV stars are in after the end of their long-running shows. Do you take a break? Tackle movies? Attempt to top that once-in-a-lifetime TV mountaintop. Ask the “Friends” cast: Sometimes it takes a while to find that next big thing.
That’s why I’m more than a little impressed that Cuoco jumped right in after wrapping “Big Bang,” challenging herself by both executive producing and starring in HBO Max’s standout series “The Flight Attendant.” A fun, compelling and exciting mystery, “The Flight Attendant” also gave Cuoco a complicated character to play in Cassie Bowden — an alcoholic who deals with hidden trauma while facing the very real shock of a man who has been murdered in her bed.
Yes, it’s a comedy, and a very clever one. But it’s also a very nuanced, dramatic role, and one that, as executive producer Sarah Schechter told Variety last year, it’s doubtful the sitcom star would have ever been offered. But “The Flight Attendant,” based on the novel by Chris Bohjalian, was the very first project out of Cuoco’s new shingle, Yes, Norman Prods. (which just sealed a huge overall deal with Warner Bros. TV), and with the support of Schechter and fellow EP Greg Berlanti, it became a reality.