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The Big Bang Theory Official Podcast recently featured writer Lee Aronsohn as a special guest. Lee opened up about the lead character Penny, saying it was based on a girl from real life who dumped him long ago.
In the latest episode aired on May 26, 2025, Lee said that Chuck Lorre considered him suitable for The Big Bang Theory since he knew nothing about science. While Lee described himself as a “comic book and pop culture nerd”, host Jessica Radloff asked him the reasons for the same. Arohnson said in response:
“I was into comics as a kid and then once I graduated college, having decided that law school was not really for me, not my jam, I opened a comic book store, comic book and used record store in Lincoln Nebraska, where this girl lived that I was involved with at the time. And yeah, I, we did that, I did that for a couple of years until she dumped me.”
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Lee Aronsohn said that he eventually arrived in Los Angeles after being dumped since he was not willing to stay in Lincoln, Nebraska, without a girlfriend. Radloff then stated:
“That’s where, if I’m not mistaken, you guys got the idea to base Penny from Nebraska, right? But I think it was Omaha.”
Lee Aronsohn also agreed to the same in response, and Radloff added:
“Okay. Sure. Why not? But Nebraska, yes, exactly.”
The Big Bang Theory co-creator opens up on other details related to Penny
Back in March this year, Chuck Lorre also appeared for an interview on the podcast, where he explained the character of Penny a little bit more, saying that it was not easy to understand her in the beginning. Chuck said that it took time for people to know that Penny was “cliched” and a “dumb blonde” simultaneously.
Chuck claimed that Penny did not become a part of the show until they decided to re-shoot the pilot episode of The Big Bang Theory. Lorre mentioned that the character worked due to her bonding with the other lead characters, and continued:
“She was never judgmental about these characters. She was bemused by them, in fact. They brought more judgment to her than she did ever of them. And I thought that was also an important difference between the character of what Penny brought versus the character of what Katie brought in the original unaired pilot.”
Chuck mentioned that Penny was “self-dimensional” and managed to bring humanity that was missing among the characters. Lorre stated that although it took some time to understand Penny’s character in a better way, the best part of a successful TV show is that people “get time to learn.”
Penny was one of the lead characters in The Big Bang Theory, and shared an apartment with her husband Leonard Hofstadter. The character became popular for her common sense, despite that she was not well educated. She aimed to become an actress and was described as “The Incredible Hulk” by Leonard, considering that she became mad on certain occasions.
Penny was portrayed by Kaley Cuoco in all the seasons of The Big Bang Theory. The CBS sitcom originally aired in 2007 and aired for 279 episodes until its conclusion in 2019.
