“The Big Bang Theory” may have aired its last episode in 2019, but its characters won’t be forgotten anytime soon. The series and its colorful cast are still able to draw an immense amount of fan debate — whether that’s about Penny’s controversial pixie cut or Howard’s (Simon Helberg) horribly offensive impersonation of Raj (Kunal Nayyar). A debate over one character in particular has fueled many fights online, as fans, like Reddit user u/onelove7866, think Raj’s ex-girlfriend Lucy “was the worst thing to happen to this show.”

Lucy (Kate Micucci) is introduced on Season 6 of “The Big Bang Theory” as a potential love interest for Raj. The pair meet at a Valentine’s Day singles party at the comic book store and eventually start dating. But during the course of their courtship, Lucy, who suffers from social anxiety, ditches Raj twice by climbing out of the bathroom window and airs private details of their relationship on her blog without his consent, before breaking up with him over text. Although Raj ends up overcoming his own social anxiety with women as a result of this, fans of the show really dislike Lucy and the way she treats Raj during their relationship.

While “The Big Bang Theory” viewers stressed that they love Micucci as an actor, they struggled to root for her character. Many feel that the biggest problem with Lucy is that she doesn’t have a strong arc or grows as a person. Even when she returns briefly on Season 10, it’s very obvious she is still dealing with the same social anxiety issues. Agreeing with u/onelove7866, u/mentalgeler said: “She was my least favorite character, for sure. Boring, not funny, kinda cruel to Raj. I know that social anxiety is a problem … but it’s not an excuse to treat others like sh*t.”

Kate Micucci’s character may have caused some conflict among fans online, but it turns out the role of Lucy was not the one she originally auditioned for. Micucci initially had her eyes on a much bigger part. “I auditioned for Amy years ago, and they liked and kept me in the back of their minds,” she revealed to The Hollywood Reporter. Although Mayim Bialik got the role of Amy over Micucci because her real-life background in neuroscience pushed her over the edge, Micucci’s “Big Bang Theory” audition had obviously been a memorable one. “When this character came up, that’s how I ended up playing Lucy,” she added.

This ended up being the right decision for both actors, and Micucci was thrilled to be cast as Lucy. “I was so excited to get to play something with such heart that is so funny. It’s been a dream to do scenes with Kunal,” she said. Micucci appeared in a total of eight episodes, mostly on Season 6. She also reprised her role for one-off episodes on Season 7 and Season 10. She moved on from the sitcom with appearances on popular shows like “Will and Grace” and “Supergirl,” as well as major voice roles as Hope on “The Powerpuff Girls” and Velma Dinkley in a number of animated Scooby Doo projects.

In 2023, Micucci revealed that she underwent an operation after a lung cancer diagnosis. Posting a video on TikTok to break the news, she said “This is not a TikTok, it’s a SickTok … I had lung cancer surgery yesterday, they caught it really early.” Thankfully, the surgery was success and Micucci added that she is now cancer-free.