This Scrapped Big Bang Theory Character Would Have Completely Changed Sheldon Cooper

The early stages of development on "The Big Bang Theory" were a total mess. The original unaired pilot, for instance, had a different actor playing Penny before Kaley Cuoco came aboard. There was also no sign of Raj (Kunal Nayyar) or Howard (Simon Helberg), and even Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon's (Jim Parsons) apartment looked darker and more depressing. The final "Big Bang Theory" pilot we're all familiar with was the result of countless focus group screenings and many rewrites.

One particularly important revision involved Leonard and Sheldon's friend/co-worker Gilda (Iris Bahr). Whereas Penny was rewritten and recast after the unaired pilot, the Gilda character was erased from the series entirely. It's hard to argue with the choice, though, as Gilda's presence would've dramatically changed the way Sheldon came across. Indeed, in the unaired pilot, it's established that Sheldon and Gilda had sex at some point, a revelation that's out of character for the version of Sheldon we now know and love.

As "The Big Bang Theory" fans know, Sheldon is deeply uninterested in sex throughout most of the show. Even when he finds a compatible partner with Amy (Mayim Bialik) at the end of season 3, it's not until season 9 that they do the deed. Afterward, they agree to have sex once a year on Amy's birthday. It seems safe to trust that Sheldon's a virgin prior to this point, a fact he himself would happily admit to anyone who asked. Sheldon's disinterest in sex is an absolutely crucial aspect of who he is; for the show to make him that way, Gilda would have to go.

There's no clear replacement for Gilda, but there are traces of her personality that can be seen in other characters on "The Big Bang Theory." For instance, she works at Caltech and has a vaguely antagonistic role with Sheldon in the unaired pilot. In that sense, she's a lot like Howard and Raj, two characters only written into the show after Gilda was written out. It's also common for fans to speculate that Amy herself has a bit of Gilda in her, as she too is a scientist who both sleeps with Sheldon and calls him out on his nonsense.

Most fans agree that cutting Gilda made sense, although some have argued there should've been at least one other woman on the series from the start. The show's early seasons were often criticized for being too male-centric, made worse by how creepy some of the guys (mainly Howard) were towards Penny. Video essayist Pop Culture Detective has talked a lot about the series' "adorkable misogyny," i.e. how the nerdy main characters' underdog status allowed them to get away with behavior viewers wouldn't have tolerated from anyone else. Having Gilda around likely would've leveled the playing field, making it so Howard would've probably thought twice before gifting Penny a teddy bear with a hidden spy cam (to cite but one of many poorly-aged "Big Bang Theory" moments).

Eventually, the show addressed this issue. It not only upgraded both Amy and Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) to series regulars in season 4, but it also did a surprisingly graceful job at handling the transition. Gilda may not have shown up in the aired series, but at least the gender balance on the show ultimately skewed closer to how it was in the original pilot.