Kaley Cuoco Had To Beg A Co-Star To Be On Her Show
While it may be a no-brainer to join any production Kaley Cuoco is pitching, one costar wasn’t so sure.
While it may be a no-brainer to join any production Kaley Cuoco is pitching, her current The Flight Attendant costar, Rosie Perez wasn’t so sure. During a recent sit down with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show, the White Men Can’t Jump star revealed that she had some hesitations about boarding the fan-favorite HBO series. The main one being: she hates flying. But that hesitation didn’t stop Cuoco from pursuing Perez to sign on for the show.
During an August 2021 interview, Kaley Cuoco said that after the two read scenes together, the duo had such a bond that the leading actress was willing to do whatever it would take to have Perez agree to do the show. All of the begging paid off, because in the end, Perez has been with the series since its debut season playing Megan Briscoe who appears as a “work mom” to Cuoco’s Cassie Bowden. And despite her initial hesitations, Perez is thrilled that she ended up doing the series. That wave of certainty washed over her on the very first day on set during her debut scene. It was then that Perez said she knew the show with Kaley Cuoco was “going to be a hit.”
And what a hit it’s been! The first season of The Flight Attendant gained a standing ovation from the critics with a current approval rating of a whopping 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. While the ensemble performances help pull the piece together, it’s Kaley Cuoco’s portrayal of Cassie that really brought the house down. The series was also up for a slew of awards including Golden Globes and Primetime Emmys. And although they didn’t take any of the aforementioned home, both Kaley Cuoco and Rosie Perez were nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, respectively, at the Emmys.
The first season of The Flight Attendant, which is based on the 2018 Chris Bohjalian novel of the same name, centers around Kaley Cuoco’s character, Cassie Bowden. Reckless with her life and her job, Cassie is an alcoholic who frequently goes on drinking-induced benders on and in between flights. All of this comes back to her when she wakes up in Bangkok with the hangover from hell and the body of a passenger from her last flight lying dead next to her. Unable to remember what happened, Cassie flees the scene and heads to work only to be stopped by the FBI when her plane arrives in New York City. Not being able to differentiate between what’s real and what’s a hallucination, Cassie begins to put the pieces together on how she ended up in the room with the deceased passenger. The Kaley Cuoco show builds from there.
As for Rosie Perez, her character Megan Briscoe has a dark past of her own that comes to light during the first season. After having connections to the mob due to an embezzlement operation that crashed and burned, Megan needs to watch her back. And while there are tons of talented actresses out there, there’s just something about Perez that fits the role of Megan better than anyone else we could imagine. And for that, we’re so thankful that Kaley Cuoco was able to nudge her into the role.
