Long before she became well-known around the world as Penny in Bang Bang Theory, Kaley Cuoco had quite an impressive part in the last season of Charmed, a cult series for many in the late 90s and early 2000s. Cuoco started to appear in the cast in Season 8 as Billie Jenkins, a young woman with telekinesis and the ability to change reality who was able to stay under the protection of Paige (Rose McGowan). Billie’s main part in the series centered on her efforts to get back her sister who had been abducted, but this was the time when the show was losing a large audience, and so the character introduction was meant to bring more excitement to a flagging series.
Cuoco did not enjoy the filming experience at the beginning. Being the latest addition to a veteran series, she felt apprehensive about her co-stars, who were all veterans. She recounted her story on the podcast Armchair Expert hosted by Dax Shepard and stated how her first day at the set was extremely awkward: “I turned up during lunch break and was so petrified that I nearly broke down.” On the other hand, Alyssa Milano’s welcoming attitude had a considerable impact: “Alyssa gets up, jumps off the couch, puts her arms around me and says ‘Welcome to our series, I’m happy you are here.’ I know it sounds really small but it changed everything. It is something that I will remember for the rest of my life because I was really scared at that time.”
Nevertheless, even though she managed to get along with the entire cast, Cuoco had a poor reception from the Charmed audience as her character Billie did not resonate with them. In a very last effort to save the show, the character was created, although everyone considered her a superfluous remark for the already exhausted series.
Billie’s abilities which were comparable to those of the deceased Prue (Shannon Doherty) did not strike a chord with the fanbase and her auxiliary plot was termed ineffective and insignificant from the perspective of the main three sisters hence rendering her difficult to empathize or care for.
With hindsight, Cuoco’s portrayal on Charmed is usually cast in the shadow of the character she played in The Big Bang Theory, but it was important in building her early career as an actress in television, as it showed her the ups and downs of being part of a veteran series in its last lap.