Doctor Who Star Joins Kaley Cuoco's New HBO Max Series

The Big Bang Theory Penny Kaley Cuoco CBS
(Image credit: CBS)
(Image credit: CBS)

The Flight Attendant is Kaley Cuoco’s first live-action TV series after The Big Bang Theory ended more than a year ago. Someone new is boarding The Flight Attendant in a role that was previously filled by another, as Doctor Who vet and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina star Michelle Gomez has joined the cast of Kaley Cuoco’s new HBO Max series.

Last fall, The Flight Attendant announced the casting of two Netflix stars. The Haunting of Hill House’s Michiel Huisman and Maniac’s Sonoya Mizuno were respectively cast as Alex and Miranda. The latter is where Doctor Who’s Michelle Gomez comes in. Deadline reports that Gomez will replace Mizuno in a reworked version of the character.

Changes in the creative direction of the storyline and the role are what reportedly led to the casting change. It is unclear how The Flight Attendant plans to alter the character of Miranda. Michelle Gomez’s version of Miranda is described as a hard, smart businesswoman, who has anger issues. That description is not far off from the one that accompanied Sonoya Mizuno’s casting announcement last year.

In that initial round of casting news, Miranda was said to meet Kaley Cuoco’s Cassie in Bangkok. Time will tell what Michelle Gomez’s Miranda and Kaley Cuoco’s Cassie get up to and how it is different. The show has been grounded ever since the coronavirus pandemic caused an industry-wide production shutdown for movies and television shows.

Doctor Who Missy BBC

(Image credit: Doctor Who Screenshot / BBC)

The Flight Attendant is reportedly aiming to restart production in late August. As for Michelle Gomez, she is joining an impressive cast. The series also counts Birds of Prey’s Rosie Perez and Grey’s Anatomy veteran T.R. Knight in its ranks. Fans of Doctor Who’s Michelle Gomez still have a wait ahead of them before they get to see Gomez in action as Miranda.

Production had made some headway before the halt, so there is that. In the HBO Max series, Kaley Cuoco stars at the titular “flight attendant," a job that Cuoco is glad that she does not have in real life. The Flight Attendant is an adaptation of Chris Bohjalian’s novel.

The show accordingly centers on Kaley Cuoco’s Cassandra/Cassie, who gets drunk one night in Dubai. Cassie wakes up the next morning with a hangover and, more disturbingly -- a dead body. Freaked, she makes a break for it, heading to New York, where inquiring FBI agents soon meet her. Michelle Gomez’s character will somehow figure into the equation.

As fans know, Michelle Gomez played the fan-favorite role of Missy on Doctor Who for three years before exiting in 2017. In recent years, Gomez has starred on the soon-to-be-ending Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. On that show, Gomez has starred as Mary Wardwell/Lilith/Madam Satan. Now, Gomez has a new role in sight as she boards The Flight Attendant.

While you wait for Kaley Cuoco’s upcoming drama, check out this fall’s premieres. You can also check out Kaley Cuoco in episodes of The Big Bang Theory now streaming on HBO Max. To see Michelle Gomez pre-Flight Attendant, watch Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix.

Britt Lawrence

Like a contented Hallmark movie character, Britt happily lives in the same city she grew up in. Along with movies and television, she is passionate about competitive figure skating. She has been writing about entertainment for 5 years, and as you may suspect, still finds it as entertaining to do as when she began.