Entertainment
Kaley Cuoco had to ‘take a risk and prove’ herself with The Flight Attendant: ‘I don’t believe anyone would have hired me’
After 12 years starring on The Big Bang Theory, The Flight Attendant star Kaley Cuoco knew she would have to create the type of roles she wanted to play next in order to move forward from her part of Penny.
Make no mistake, the 35-year-old actress wasn’t trying to toss the work she had done over those 12 years behind her.
If anything, she had assumed that she would go on to star in another comedy – but then The Flight Attendant came into her life.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk and other press via video call, the Hollywood star explained: ‘Going into Flight Attendant, I was not trying to pretend Big Bang Theory never happened and I’m going to be this new actor.
‘In fact, I actually thought I would do a sitcom again, I wasn’t against it. The Flight Attendant was just something that was the right project at the right time.’
Her new series sees the actress star as a flight attendant called Cassie, who wakes up in bed next to the dead body of the handsome guy she slept with the night before.
As you can imagine, playing someone who’s trying to piece together whether or not they brutally murdered someone isn’t necessarily the one role people might have pictured Kaley to play.
However, the actress knew she could bring the role to life so she created the series with her company, Yes, Norman Productions.
She explained: ‘I was taking a risk, because I don’t believe in my heart that someone would have hired me to play this role. I could have auditioned, and I might have even given the audition of my life; I don’t think someone would have given me this role.
‘So I wanted to prove that I can actually do more and that I love it. And it was a risk that I’m glad that I took.’
Taking on the project, which sees her also serve as an executive producer, definitely came with some moments of worry as she added: ‘I was pretty sick to my stomach the night before the show aired just because it was my baby. I started this thing so long ago, and you want everyone to like your baby.’
The Charmed star explained: ‘Coming off such a successful show, I knew people were going to judge this and question my decision. By the way, it wouldn’t have mattered what choice I had made, it was going to be – not looked down upon, but questioned.
‘I also early on really decided in my heart that I could not compare anything to Big Bang, and that released me because Big Bang was so specific and special; that whole situation, that’s not going to be compared. We can’t compare anything to that so it did give me little freedom.’
She continued: ‘But I went through a lot of ups and downs. There were days where I’m like, “Oh man, like, people are gonna love this”, and then there were days where I would literally cry myself to sleep, wishing I had never ever found the book. “What am I thinking? Oh, my God!”‘
Considering her work on the show – which she also serves as executive producer for – has seen her bag Golden Globes and Critics Choice nominations for her work, it’s safe to say taking the risk most certainly as she embarks on life after Big Bang.
The Flight Attendant lands on Sky One and NOW TV on March 19 in the UK, while it’s available to stream on HBO Max in the US.
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