Kaley Cuoco reveals her ‘weird cravings’ during pregnancy on the set of the show
Kaley Cuoco talks to USA TODAY’s Erin Jensen about her new Peacock series “Based on a True Story” and her pregnancy cravings while filming.
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Get your murder boards ready, streamer detectives. Peacock’s “Based on a True Story” strikes again on Nov. 21, and USA TODAY has your first look at the eight-episode season.
The first part of the black comedy, released in June 2023, ended on a cliffhanger: real estate agent Ava (Kaley Cuoco) and tennis pro Nathan (Chris Messina) were expecting a baby and having financial problems. They tried to make money from a true crime podcast they co-produced with their plumber Matt, who happened to be a serial killer known as the Westside Ripper. They even buried the body of their friend Rudy (Priscilla Quintana) under a pickleball court. While Ava and Nathan were cleaning up, Ruby’s husband Simon (Aaron Staton) came in and asked, “Whose blood is that?”
At the start of the new season, “a lot of questions are definitely answered quickly, which is nice,” Cuoco says in an interview. “Then they move on to something completely different.”
Season 2 picks up three months after the couple’s first child is born. And while baby Jack is cute – and even helps Ava find her mommy friend Drew (Melissa Fumero) – the arrival changes the dynamic between Ava and Nathan, Messina says.
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“Because of everything that happened in the first season and now with a newborn coming into the mix, they’re just not on the same wavelength,” says Messina. He and Cuoco are “kind of like brother and sister,” he adds. “We have a rhythm and we’re in sync. I think that was maybe the hardest thing, not being in sync with her.”
Matt, who is still dating Ava’s younger sister Tory (Liana Liberato), has checked himself into rehab to kick his murderous habit. But “there’s always the underlying threat of, ‘Is he just messing with her? Has something changed?'” says showrunner Annie Weisman.
But then a new killer appears, copying the crimes of others. “It’s someone who is obviously not just a killer, but someone who is very much involved in the world of the meta-serial killer obsession… he’s a killer expert,” Weisman explains. “It’s the idea that maybe this whole obsession with killers isn’t so harmless after all.”
Don’t tell Ava, who, like Cuoco, is addicted to true crime.
“I got into a dark side when I was in Philadelphia,” she says with her fiancé Tom Pelphrey, who is filming an upcoming HBO drama. “I wasn’t working and I was just hanging out and literally being a mom” to the couple’s daughter, Matilda, who turned one in March.
“I started watching Court TV 24/7. I think I literally lost my mind. That’s why I understand Ava,” Cuoco says. “I would make coffee or make dinner with my earbuds in, staring and listening to every second of these court proceedings and literally thinking I was part of these trials, thinking I was a lawyer, and talking about them and texting my other friends who love it as much as I do.”
Ava’s motherhood gave the former “The Big Bang Theory” star a career first: acting with a baby.
“You try to act natural. But it’s not your baby, so you try to be very careful,” Cuoco explains. “It was a really wild experience! Plus, they do what they want. Maybe they talk, or maybe they’re upset about something (and) you try to be in the moment. That was very new for me.”
Kaley Cuoco opens up about the first year as a mother, parenting tips
Ava’s desire to be the best mom gave Cuoco the opportunity to deliver a message of love to mothers. “I love this idea of trying to be the perfect mom,” she told Weisman, but “I want the message for this character and for myself to be, ‘There’s no such thing. Do whatever you want! Survive!'”
“We looked at that very closely in the first few episodes, where she was so worried about what people thought, worried about her baby 24/7… I thought that was important because I hate that… I’m used to being criticized in general my whole life, and then you have a kid and everyone has 8,000 things to say and you’re just like, ‘What?’ It’s so shocking how brazen people become about your life.”
Cuoco sees it this way: “If your child is smiling, happy, full and enjoying life, you have won.”
