Cuoco was between her fifth and ninth months during production, but before filming in L.A. even started, the actress says she had a sit down with the producers to reveal her pregnancy and then pitch it as part of her character’s identity.

“I’m like, ‘What if this character was pregnant?’ And they’re like, ‘Umm …’ And I’m like, ‘Think really hard about it because maybe it’s a really good idea — and it might be the only option,'” she recalled. “They were looking at me, and I’m smiling, and they all went, ‘Oh, my God, are you pregnant?’ I’m like, ‘Uh-huh.'”

Based on a True Story‘s executive producer and creator Rosenberg told the magazine that after hearing the news, he felt the only two options for the upcoming Peacock show were to attempt to conceal it or add it to Cuoco’s character’s storyline.

 He went with the latter, as it offered the chance to set her performance apart from the one she delivered in her last comedic thriller Max’s The Flight Attendant.

“Kaley as a pregnant woman — we haven’t seen that before,” he said. “We would still get the Kaley we wanted, but we’d have a new Kaley, so to speak, going through all different story elements and the challenges that come with being pregnant.”