NEED TO KNOW
Kaley Cuoco is a fan first when it comes to Tom Pelphrey’s work on Task.
The Big Bang Theory actress, 39, caught up with PEOPLE at Amanda Foundation’s Beverly Hills dog rescue ahead of an adoption event in November, where she chatted about her four furry friends and partner, Pelphrey. Timed a few weeks after the season 1 finale of the crime drama aired, Cuoco revealed she is an avid watcher of her beau’s HBO series.
Task stars Pelphrey, 43, as a trash collector and thief, opposite Mark Ruffalo, who plays an FBI agent tasked with investigating a string of robberies in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
Although the Ozark actor knew his character’s fate beforehand, Cuoco tells PEOPLE she requested he keep any revealing information to himself.
“So I didn’t know until I watched it, I didn’t know,” she says. “But he kept telling me stuff. I’m like, ‘Don’t tell me. Don’t tell me. Don’t tell me.’ So I watched it on my own.”
The show’s creator, Brad Ingelsby, who also produced the Emmy Award-winning HBO limited series Mare of Easttown, told The New York Times in October that some people critiqued the inclusion of a seventh episode as the conclusion.
“Certainly there are people who will say it should have ended with the sixth episode. That was the height of the action,” Ingelsby said. “There were plot threads that we had to tie up. But that, to me, wasn’t what the show was about.”
Peter Kramer/HBO
He elaborated on giving the show “time to breathe,” noting that overarching themes like forgiveness needed more space to play out.
Warner Bros. confirmed on Nov. 20 that the show will return for a second season.
“Boy, Show of the Year, I would say. It’s like Ozark all over again,” Cuoco says of the thriller series.
As much as Cuoco enjoys supporting her partner’s solo career, she also hopes they can find something to work on together.
“We’re actually actively searching [for a project]. It has to be the right one,” she says. “It has to be special, but a hundred percent. There’s no one I’d rather work with than Tom. In fact, I’m jealous of everyone that gets to work with him because he’s the best.”
In addition to the aforementioned criteria, Cuoco says Pelphrey is worried she’ll advocate for a comedy. She says she’s happy to meet in the middle with a “dark comedy.”
The actress’ previous television roles veer more in the vein of comedy, but she’s dabbled in thrillers with The Flight Attendant and Based on a True Story. Pelphrey, on the other hand, has almost exclusively acted in dramas.
“He’s so funny and he doesn’t realize,” Cuoco says of her fiancé.
The actors met in 2022 and got engaged last August; however, they’re in no rush to set a wedding date. It’s a “little back-burner,” she explains, noting their focus on their daughter, Matilda, who they welcomed in March 2023.
Kaley Cuoco/Instagram
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“We want to have more kids, and we’re really focused on Matilda,” she says. “Honestly, I’m so focused on this moment for Tom right now. He’s kind of flying high, and I can’t wait to see what his next project’s going to be. I’m his biggest cheerleader.”
In the more immediate future, Cuoco shares that she’s looking forward to diving into holiday traditions. Cuoco and Pelphrey do Christmas at home, she says, complete with matching pajamas. They also “spoil” Matilda with gifts under the tree.
“I don’t care what anyone says, she gets whatever she wants. It’s seeing a 2 year old’s face on Christmas morning,” she adds. “There’s nothing like it. The excitement, they bring back that innocence that we don’t have anymore.”
