Jim Parsons Finally Comments On Upsetting His Castmates After Stepping Away From The Big Bang Theory
One would think that a sitcom that lasted for 12 seasons would meet its natural end with little controversy, but that wasn't the case for "The Big Bang Theory." Mayim Bialik, who played Amy Farrah Fowler on the show, told US Weekly in 2021, "The way that I described the show ending was there are a lot of factors that the public doesn't get to know about, about what goes into the decisions behind why a show doesn't continue." Well, the recent tell-all book "The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series" by Jessica Radloff details how the show actually ended, and it wasn't pretty.
According to the book, Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper) was certain that Season 12 would be the last for the show from the first table read, saying that he "felt like a liar" as he read the script at the table read (via TVLine). Parsons then met with executive producers Chuck Lorre and Steve Molaro to tell them he was done with the long-running sitcom, and then came time to inform the cast, which many of the cast members felt went poorly. Lorre called a meeting with the cast, Molaro, and showrunner Steve Holland and told them all that Parsons had something to tell them, which came as a surprise to Parsons. Kaley Cuoco acknowledged that she cried a lot at that meeting. Johnny Galecki especially felt it was handled poorly, saying that the cast was "blindsided" and was disappointed that Parsons didn't meet with the cast beforehand to tell them about the announcement.
Now that the book has been out for a little while, Parsons has responded to the reports from the book that his castmates felt his departure wasn't handled well.
Jim Parsons felt he was doing what he had to do
Jim Parsons was interviewed by Yahoo! Entertainment and talked a little bit about the other cast members' reactions in the book to his departure from the show. Parsons expressed regret but also stated that he did what he felt was right at the time. "It's never nice to hear that you've done anything that's even accidentally made somebody angry or feel bad," Parsons told Yahoo! "But I was doing what I had to do, and that was the best way for me to handle it. To be honest, we weren't the kind of group that I felt needed to have a group meeting in that way." He also mentioned in the interview that he didn't know for sure that the show would end because of his leaving, saying, "There was part of me that had a sense of delight that it might go on without me! But that isn't what happened."
Despite the acrimonious ending to the series, the "Big Bang" cast and crew seemed to be pretty satisfied with the finale they produced, as evidenced by the interview with The Hollywood Reporter they did when their show ended. Despite having such a hard time saying goodbye, Kaley Cuoco seemed very pleased with the script for the finale. "When I originally read the script, at the Nobel ceremony — when everyone stands up — I was just so amazed by the brilliant writing," Cuoco told THR. "To give everyone their moment and to have Sheldon who, after all these years, can never apologize — actually apologize — to his friends is unbelievable. And to do it in front of people and to give of himself like that was unreal." So it seems that the cast at least ended on something they were proud of.