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“The Big Bang Theory” officially concluded in 2019 after 12 years and the same number of seasons — but will it ever get another season? Why didn’t it keep going? Here’s the real reason.
According to Jessica Radloff’s book “The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series,” Warner Bros. released a statement in 2018 confirming that the show would end after its twelfth season … despite the fact that, as Radloff wrote, other outlets had all but confirmed season 13. Ultimately, fans learned that Jim Parsons, who played Sheldon Cooper throughout the entire series, wanted to leave “The Big Bang Theory” behind despite apparent shock and anger from his coworkers like Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco (Leonard and Penny Hofstadter, respectively). So, what happened here?!
It was true: Parsons decided that, both personally and professionally, he didn’t want to play Sheldon Cooper for another season — and a big part of that was the fact that he lost his dog Otis at 14 years old. “Otis was this emblem, basically representative of me and Todd [Spiewak, Parsons’ husband], our time together, and all these major life events,” Parsons explained. “It was the end of an era, and his passing brought a sense of clarity for me. I don’t think there was a part of me that actually thought I would do more seasons after the twelfth, but I was ready to […] get out of the security of the show to fully find out what was next for me. I was ready to move back to New York full-time.”
Another cast member on The Big Bang Theory also felt ready to leave after season 12
Even though Jessica Radloff’s book also details how Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco were completely surprised by Jim Parsons’ announcement — causing strife and tension as they started filming season 12 — it also reveals that Parsons touched base with one of his costars about leaving before it became official. That costar? Simon Helberg, who plays one of Sheldon Cooper’s best friends Howard Wolowitz … and apparently, Helberg also wanted to start pursuing new professional opportunities and hang up Howard’s signature turtlenecks and oversized belt buckles.
“I was aware that Jim felt ready to move on from the show, and we did talk about it,” Helberg confirmed to Radloff. “I felt the same. We felt like season 12 was the end of the run. Now, that didn’t mean that we, in any way, expected that the show would certainly end or that there wouldn’t be any kind of attempt from the producers or the studio or the network to keep the show running, whether or not we were involved. Or that there wouldn’t be an attempt to keep us involved. But the feeling to move on from the show for both Jim and myself was totally genuine.”
Parsons confirmed that, and said that he simply felt as if Helberg would understand his perspective better than most; apparently, the two were very, very good friends off-screen as well. “There was very little going on in my life in general that Simon, more than anybody else that was employed on this show, wouldn’t have known about just because we were that close,” Parsons noted. “I had to talk to him before anything like that happened. It has nothing to do with the respect level or love that I feel for other people on the show, but he was in my dressing room more than he was in his own.” The Emmy-winning actor went on to say that his conversations with Helberg had to do with the insular nature of their relationship, noting that even folks like Cuoco and Galecki might’ve not fully understood how he felt at the time.
Could The Big Bang Theory have gone out without Jim Parsons? The answer is no
I know what you’re thinking — some major shows do continue on without their leads. “The Office” famously continued after Steve Carell stopped playing Michael Scott in the show’s seventh season (though some would probably argue that it should have ended when he left). However, this was not the case with “The Big Bang Theory,” although Jim Parsons said he would have been totally cool with it if it did go on without him.
“There was no pressure from them, and they were very sweet and kind,” Parsons recalled regarding his decision to leave. “But I had a part of me that was hopeful that if other people wanted to keep doing it, that they would find a way to do that. I didn’t feel possessive about it, in that, just because I didn’t want to continue, I didn’t want anyone else to, either. I didn’t feel that at all.”
Writer and producer Lee Arohnson vehemently disagreed with Parsons’ take, though, in the most flattering way possible. “I’ll tell you, without Jim Parsons, there is no 12 years of ‘Big Bang Theory,'” Arohnson told Radloff. “Not to take anything away from the rest of the cast, but […] the show couldn’t have lasted as long as it did without him. The ensemble together was a ’61 Yankees of comedy. Losing any one of them would have been an incredible loss, but Sheldon was irreplaceable — that character and the actor.”
Chuck Lorre had to tell the cast of The Big Bang Theory the show was ending — and it didn’t go well
After the creative team of “The Big Bang Theory” concluded that they could not and would not continue the show without Jim Parsons, they had to sit the entire cast down and tell them. As Jessica Radloff noted in her book, nobody but Simon Helberg even knew it was possible that the show might end; people like Chuck Lorre and Steve Molaro had to wait to see what the studio and CBS thought of the decision to bring the series to a close before they could have any official discussions. As Lorre recalled to Radloff, he’s worried he may not have handled it perfectly, in that he basically made Parsons shoulder the weight of the announcement.
“I’ve often wondered if I misstepped, because I said, ‘You probably wondered why we all called you here,’ and I think I started off by saying, ‘OK, well, Jim … you have the floor,'” Lorre said. “I got the feeling he was upset with me because maybe he thought I was going to lay out the future, but I didn’t think it was my place to do that. So he explained to them that he was ready to say goodbye at the end of season 12. And then I said I didn’t see a path forward without Sheldon, and frankly I didn’t want to see a path forward with anybody leaving the show. I said, ‘Let’s go out on top as the wonderful show that we’ve been blessed to do for 12 years.’ But there was a lot of crying in the room. Kaley, in particular. It was a blow. And there was no way to soften it by giving them a heads-up. I didn’t know any other way to do it.”
Unfortunately, Jim Parsons and Simon Helberg still have misgivings about the way Chuck Lorre broke the news
While the rest of the cast was taken aback by the news that season 12 of “The Big Bang Theory” would be its last, Jim Parsons and Simon Helberg told Jessica Radloff that they were just really not happy with how Chuck Lorre made the announcement — in that they both felt it was unfair to put it all on Parsons. “In terms of the actual, I guess what you could call the cancellation of the show, that occurred in [that] meeting, where we were informed by Chuck that the show was done. That’s what I found to be the most upsetting,” Helberg recalled. “Jim didn’t cancel our show. Jim just finished the run of our show as we all did, contractually, and no one ever asked us to continue doing the show. That is not an exaggeration […] Jim was not in charge of canceling our show or renewing contracts or discussing the future, and I felt that was an unfair burden on him. But that’s my two cents.”
Parsons agreed, saying that he felt he ended up having an amount of “power” that made him uneasy … and more to the point, he didn’t think Lorre and Steve Molaro really prepared him for how they’d approach the entire situation. “I was uncomfortable with how shocking moment was,” Parsons admitted. “When I talked to Chuck and Steve about it, and there was back-and-forth about when to get the group together, I did not really understand until we got in there, that it was going to be quite as definitive as it was. I didn’t know that no one was going to ask anybody, “How do you feel?” Not that I thought it should be my responsibility […] since it wasn’t going to involve me [should the show have gone forward]. And I would never have assumed that I had the power, frankly, to open a discussion like that.”
In the end, Radloff’s book details that the cast came to understand Parsons’ decision, and nobody placed any blame on him … but it definitely does seem like the announcement regarding the end of “The Big Bang Theory” could have been handled better.
All 12 seasons of “The Big Bang Theory are currently streaming on Max.
