Kaley Cuoco Soars to New Heights While Dealing With Extreme Turbulence in THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede “What’s wrong with messy?” asks Kaley Cuoco’s messy character, Cassie Bowden, a few minutes into HBO Max’s new dark comedic thriller THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT. Well, there’s nothing wrong with messy, technically speaking, if one is making a personal choice to live life on the wild side. But it can leave a very bad impression with the authorities when messiness intersects with murder, and that’s basically the setup for the eight-episode limited series, which dropped Episode 1 earlier this week on Crave, with Episodes 2 and 3 being added on Thursday, Nov. 26. “Cassie is extremely perfectly flawed,” said Cuoco in a virtual panel with TV reporters. “It was kind of an actor’s dream to play someone like her. She’s got a rollercoaster of issues, but a heart of gold, and she’s strong. It’s just a great female character to play.” Initially viewers might be thinking, “Wow, look at all the fun Cassie is having, I wouldn’t mind being in her shoes, at least for a little while.” But nobody will be thinking that by the end of the first episode. In a widely circulated trailer for THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT, certain basics of the story are revealed. Some of those basics are about to be discussed. While nothing is revealed that wasn’t already shown in the trailer, this is nonetheless a SPOILER ALERT. After meeting a handsome and charming man named Alex, played by Michiel Huisman (GAME OF THRONES, THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE), while working on one of her international flights, and subsequently spending a fun evening with him in Bangkok, Cassie wakes up the following morning in his luxurious hotel room. Just one problem: he’s dead – clearly not due to natural causes – and Cassie has no memory of what occurred. Cassie’s panicked choices in the aftermath of this gruesome discovery complicate her predicament, to say the least. And this draws her circle of friends and co-workers into the fracas, including her lawyer pal Annie, played by Zosia Mamet (GIRLS, The Kids Are All Right), and fellow flight attendant Megan, played by Rosie Perez (Birds of Prey: And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). “I think the tone has been a fascinating challenge in that we really have ridden a fine line,” said Cuoco, who also is an executive producer on the project. She initially became interested in adapting the novel of the same name by Chris Bohjalian after reading a mere blurb about it on an online retailer’s website and becoming instantly intrigued. “Dark stuff happens, but there is levity, and we have so many funny actors who can make those quirky moments be a little lighter,” Cuoco continued. “It’s a very specific tone. I don’t think we’ve seen much of this on TV, so I’m excited.” Cuoco, of course, played Penny for 12 seasons on THE BIG BANG THEORY. Does she see THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT as a completely new direction for her career? “It wasn’t really like a conscious, ‘I’m trying to get so far away from what I did before’ – this kind of was the natural progression,” Cuoco explained. “I love making people laugh, I love sitcoms, I would do it again in a heartbeat, but this was great, kind of a new path. But it wasn’t so far off the path that people are like, ‘What is she doing?’ Steve (Yockey, executive producer and writer) and our creative team really got to learn my voice, my personality, and put in those ‘Kaley-isms’ – I think that was really important.” Take your seat and fasten your seatbelt. THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT is prepared for takeoff, and there’s no telling where it’s headed. billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv