In March 2014, the series was renewed for an
eighth,
ninth and tenth season through the
2016–17 television season. Unlike the previous two seasons, the first five episodes of the tenth season aired on a different night due to
CBS acquiring the rights to
Thursday Night Football games. In May 2016, CBS announced at its annual upfront presentation that the series would begin its tenth season on Mondays, before returning to the Thursday slot once the football games ended. Several castings for the tenth season were announced before the season began airing.
Variety announced on July 22, 2016, that
Katey Sagal and
Jack McBrayer had been cast as Penny's mother and brother, respectively. Information about the characters was that Sagal would play Susan, who was described as stressed out and neurotic from a life with her troubled son. McBrayer would play Randall, a cheerful former drug dealer and ex-con.
Entertainment Weekly reported on August 10, 2016, a week before filming began, that
Dean Norris would have a multi-episode arc in the tenth season, and would be playing
Colonel Williams, a tough officer from the
Air Force Research Laboratory, who is interested in the men's quantum gyroscope for military applications. On November 9, 2016,
TVLine reported that
Christopher Lloyd had been cast as Theodore for the season's tenth episode. ==Cast==