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Spoiler Alert! The following provides details on the season 2 finale of The Flight Attendant, streaming now on HBO Max.
Kaley Cuoco finds a happy ending, on and off the screen.
She began filming the second season of HBO Max’s quirky thriller comedy The Flight Attendant, which ended Thursday, shortly after ending a three-year marriage to her second husband, equestrian Karl Cook. (Cuoco was previously married to former pro tennis player Ryan Sweeting from 2013 to 2016.) And with just four days left of filming, Cuoco was devastated by her COVID-19 diagnosis. “I just wanted to die,” she recalls. “I was so sad and so depressed because I had come this far.”
On-screen, Cuoco’s Cassie Bowden, now a civilian CIA operative and flight attendant, battled two weird blondes: CIA Regional Director Dot Karlson (Cheryl Hines), who attempted to frame Cassie for several murders, and Jenny (Jessie Ennis), a woman so devoted to Buckley Ware aka Feliks (Colin Woodell) from season 1 that she was willing to kill Cassie to win the affections of the imprisoned Feliks.
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Dot wanted “ultimate power,” says Cuoco, and be seen as the hero who defeated Cassie.
“This job that she has is a really big deal and it can be very difficult to be a woman in a position like that,” says Cuoco. “You’re just not taken seriously, so I loved this female role. I love that the woman was the villain. That stuff makes me happy because women do bad (stuff) too.”
As for Jenny’s surprising backstory, Cuoco says she requested “one more weird thing” to throw viewers.
Cassie escaped both villains and even reconciled with her mother, Lisa Bowden, played by a seemingly punchy Sharon Stone. (More on that below.)
And in real life, Cuoco is in an Instagram-official relationship with actor Tom Pelphrey, 39, whom she describes as “the love of my life.”
Cuoco, 36, opens up about the likelihood of a third Flight Attendant episode, her “love at first sight” meeting with former daytime soap opera actor Pelphrey and why she’s finally striving for work-life balance. (Edited for length and clarity.)
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Question: I understand that the slap that Sharon Stone gave you in episode 6 was not scripted. What was it like shooting that scene?
Kaley Cuoco: I’m doing stuff that’s not written and (my co-stars) are surprised at the moment. So that was me on the other end. It was so real and so shocking. It was all Sharon and the scene got incredible. I couldn’t believe she slapped my face. And then later I was like, “Guys, did I get beat up by Sharon Stone?” … What a great story to have for the rest of my life.
Q: There are some physical scenes in this season. Did you suffer injuries?
Cuoco: I have not maintained physically injuries. Now, if we’re about to get dark and serious, my emotional state was Yes, really not in a good place. This whole season has been quite difficult. I was so stressed about my personal life, what was going on and then I was trying to keep the show going and the stress of ‘is this going to be alright? Am I crazy?” I ended up getting this stress rash that ran down my stomach, down my leg for about 3 1/2 months. Every time I got heated, whether Kaley or Cassie, it flared up.
Q: You really leaned on your co-star Zosia Mamet (who plays Cassie’s friend Annie Mouradian) this season. how was she there for you
Cuoco: She stayed with me for months. It was so helpful to have only one friend here with me because there were a lot of rough nights. This girl came to have lunch with me on her days off and to sit with me. There were mornings when I texted her from my bed and said, “I don’t know how I’m going to get up today.” But Zosia came into my room, she pulled me out of bed, literally stood by me while I brushed my teeth. I don’t think I could have come to work half the time. She really saved me and we became so close.
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Q: Annie and Max (Deniz Akdeniz) get married in the finale. When Annie throws her bouquet at Cassie, Cassie makes no attempt to catch the arrangement and drops it on the floor. Do you share Cassie’s feelings or would you like to remarry?
Cuoco: I’m really not interested in getting married again. I just happened to meet the love of my life and I’m so happy and feel like I’m in a different place than I was a month ago. I talk a lot about it with Tom, who has totally changed me. I don’t even look at him and say, “Where have you been all my life? Why didn’t I meet you sooner?” I don’t want that and neither does he because I’ve had to go through a lot and really look at myself in the mirror and I haven’t covered the things that I’ve screwed up so much over the past 10 years.
I’ve been working on myself so much and then all of a sudden this gift was in front of me and I’m at a different stage in my life right now where I want to have a deep partnership. And it hits you like a wave and you’re like, “Whoa, I’ve never had that before.” I never went deep enough I’ve never faced my own problems like I did last year. In the last nine months I’ve done a full 180. I don’t think this relationship would be what it is if I hadn’t been through all of this.
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Q: Speaking of “complete 180”, how have you changed?
Cuoco: It is strange. Filming this show alongside a character who is literally trying to run away from their problems and push things under the rug and be Little Miss Perfect and not admit our problems, I realized that I had never dealt with things. There have been traumas in my life that go back so far that I managed to put myself in a closet and not look at it. I realized I was doing things so wrong. I’m so career-oriented that a lot has slipped backwards. I thought I was doing the right thing: “I’m a working woman.” I’m proud of stuff like that. But it’s time for me to find a balance in my life. I never said the words, “I want to take the rest of the year off.” I’m ready to settle down for a minute and find my place as a person in normal life.
Q: Glad to see you happy in your personal life. Is there anything you would like to share about your new relationship, such as how you met?
Cuoco: We have the same manager (Andrea Pett-Joseph) and we were set up by (her) what is So Hollywood (laughs). She says, “Oh my god, I think you guys are a perfect match.” We met at the Ozark premiere (in April) and I was standing there with Andrea and Tom came in and I heard his voice, and I turned around and it was like my life was over or had just begun. it hit me It was love at first sight. We were connected immediately. I feel like I’ve known him all my life, but I wasn’t ready for him. We are ready to build a life together.
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Q: You talked about being married to your job and now you’re talking about being able to take time off. How has your relationship to work changed?
Cuoco: I’ve never really taken a vacation. And by the way, this is voluntary. I just love to work. When I’m on vacation, I’m on my cell phone all the time. (Work is) not the most important thing now. I am leaving on July 1st; I’m making a movie called “RPG”. David Oyelowo will be playing my husband and I’m so excited. But that will be in Berlin for three months. I want to come home after that and take the rest of the year off and support Tom and what he’s doing and actually be there for someone else, not just me.
Q: Would you want to do a third season of The Flight Attendant? Where would you like to see Cassie? And how many bad things can happen to this woman?
Cuoco: (laughs) That’s my point. It’s like where is it going? My biggest fear is that I’m a CIA agent. This isn’t the show I wanted to do and that’s how it feels. There are many characters that I think could have much stronger storylines in Season 3, but what will Cassie do? The most interesting part about Cassie is her journey to sobriety and how that looks to her because it’s a lifelong journey. So obviously your life will consist of the back and forth of drinking all the time, which will lead you into a lot of troubles. I have a little too much PTSD right now. But maybe if we talk about it in a year, I’d be open to a season 3.
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