‘The Big Bang Theory’ Star Reveals the Plot of an Episode Fans Never Got to See

Actor Brian Thomas Smith, who played one of Penny’s (Kaley Cuoco) love interests, Zack Johnson, in the hit CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, shared that an episode involving his character and Dr. Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) ended up getting cut.

During an August 2026 interview on The Official Big Bang Theory Podcast, Smith, who joined the show’s cast during its season 3 finale, said that a script was written for a season 4 episode, wherein Zack tried to give Sheldon dating advice. However, Cuoco ended up breaking her leg after a horse riding accident two days before the episode was supposed to be taped.

“They’re like, ‘She can’t do the episode, so you’re not going to be able to do the episode.’ Because that was the whole episode. And I was given Sheldon advice on women in that episode. I vaguely remember it ’cause we only had like a few days of rehearsals on it, but they had to write me out. And I was like, ‘This is my luck.’ They just wrote me out,” said Smith.

He also said while he was disappointed that he didn’t get to film the episode, he wasn’t an overall fan of the plot.

“It wasn’t good. I think Zack was kind of mean still. He was, like, kind of more like a womanizer type of guy,” said Smith.

Kaley Cuoco Shared Details About Her Injury in a 2010 Interview

Cuoco discussed breaking her leg in a 2010 interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

“I had a freak accident. It actually was the end of my lesson. I’d been jumping all day,” said Cuoco in the 2010 interview. “At the end of the lesson, my horse spooked, and I wasn’t really expecting it. And I fell off. But I fell off. And I was laughing and my trainer was laughing. It was very, very silly. So, I was actually getting up, and my horse was still kind of spooking. He was in the corner. He was trying to get away from me. He leaped over me and landed on my leg.”

Cuoco, who starred as Penny throughout the show’s entire 12-season run, which ended in 2019, also shared that her leg injury wasn’t written into The Big Bang Theory. Instead, her cast was hidden by having her bartend at Penny’s then-workplace, The Cheesecake Factory.