In The Big Bang Theory, Penny (Kaley Cuoco) mentions that she once had a pet pig. What really happened to the animal remained unanswered even after the series ended. At least when it comes to a consistent answer. Because “The Big Bang Theory” has given several answers about what happened to Penny’s pig – and it didn’t exactly end well for the curly-tailed pooch…
Penny’s pig, who she loved very much, is mentioned twice in the series. But the question many viewers ask themselves is: How exactly did it die and what happened next? The answers provided by ‘The Big Bang Theory’ leave people scratching their heads.
What happened to Penny’s pig?!
In season 7, episode 22 (“The Marry Me Face”), Penny and Leonard (Johnny Galecki) visit Dr. Proton (Bob Newhart) to attend. Penny then explains to Leonard that she has never attended a funeral because she didn’t know anyone who died. But then comes the tragic revelation: Penny says she once had a pet pig, but when it died there was no funeral, just a barbecue party.
Pretty tough stuff, but one that Penny can talk about quite calmly, because it seems like some time has passed since her piggy ended up on her plate. Now the big but: In the third episode (“Feynman’s Van”) of the ninth season, Penny learns from her father that her little pig Moondance was hit by his tractor’s new tiller and therefore had to be killed by the vet a short time later. Penny’s father kept the incident a secret from his daughter for almost a year.
How does that work? Moondance could have been alive in season 7 and not even ended up on the grill in reality. But perhaps the story also makes sense, as Penny’s memory has thwarted her plans. Or are they ultimately two different pigs? While Moondance was her favorite and was buried after the accident, another, unnamed pig eventually ended up on the grill. But that’s just a theory that the screenwriters haven’t commented on yet.
But there’s another problem: in the ninth season, Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) jokes about the fact that Penny’s family may have eaten Moondance. Penny is not happy about this at all, even though she mentioned that her pig was eaten in season 7. How the whole thing ultimately turned out will probably never be fully explained. In complete contrast to another “The Big Bang Theory” mystery, as you can read here: