"The Big Bang Theory" season 9 will start with Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Penny's (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting) wedding, and in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, executive producer Steve Molaro explained why this important event was spoiled to the public prior to the episode's release.
According to his statements, the decision wasn't to avoid spoilers leaking out or to prevent poor quality set images or videos from reaching the public. (That move was done by Warner Bros. Pictures when it released the official trailer for "Suicide Squad" after poor-quality Comic-Con footage was leaked online.) Instead, the decision was to combat negative insight.
"Chuck [Lorre] and I had a long talk about revealing the wedding before the premiere and my fear was that it was going to start to sound like they didn't get married. That was not a positive message — and we didn't want fans to feel like, 'Oh, they're going to pull the rug again and not do it'. There is so much more story beyond that moment that we decided to just let people know," Molaro stated.
This defense would make sense given that the relationship between Leonard and Penny has gone up and down throughout the show's life. Molaro even pointed out that Leonard had been pursuing Penny since the first few minutes of the season 1 premiere and revealing that the wedding is actually going to take place would put down frustrations with the status quo.
As previously reported, the wedding is only the beginning as the season will also dive into Leonard's affair and the on-going rift between Amy (Mayim Bialik) and Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons). In the interview, Molaro explained that the living arrangements with Sheldon will be tackled now that Leonard and Penny are married.
Molaro also clarified that Penny's last name will still remain a mystery. Although it is customary for last names to be mentioned during a wedding ceremony, the writers and showrunners have worked in a way for her last name to not be heard.
"The Big Bang Theory" season 9 will premiere this Sept. 21.
