57% Of Big Bang Theory Fans Agree This Was Their Favorite Guest Star
Back in its heyday, "The Big Bang Theory" was home to some of television's biggest guest stars and cameos, with people from all walks of life showing up to rub shoulders with Leonard (Johnny Galecki), Sheldon (Jim Parsons), and the rest of the gang. The show featured famous scientists and astronauts like Neil deGrasse Tyson and Buzz Aldrin, as well as iconic celebrities and other legends such as Stan Lee and Charlie Sheen. But out of everyone who appeared on the CBS comedy sitcom during its 12-season run, could you guess who might be the fan-favorite when asking Redditors?
Airing from 2007 to 2019, "The Big Bang Theory" focused on Leonard and Sheldon's relationship with their neighbor Penny (Kaley Cuoco) and two buddies, Raj (Kunal Nayyar), and Howard (Simon Helberg), whom they went to Caltech with. Throughout each season, the Caltech guys would often interact with other brilliant minds such as themselves, and that's precisely where our fan-favorite comes in.
Looking at a poll of nearly 200 Reddit users, the person in question managed to nab 57% of the vote — finishing ahead of other popular guest stars like Bill Nye and James Earl Jones, aka the voice of Darth Vader.
Stephen Hawking is the fan favorite
According to Redditors, it's none other than the late Stephen Hawking who is the favorite guest star of "Big Bang Theory." Out of 182 votes, the English physicist secured 103 of them. James Earl Jones was the next runner-up with 47, followed by Bill Nye with 12 and Carrie Fisher with 8.
"The Big Bang Theory" creator Chuck Lorre spoke about the Hawking appearance in a 2019 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "All of Professor Hawking's dialogue was preprogrammed and triggered through a voice synthesizer. When we offered to do that, we were told he preferred to program and trigger his lines by himself," the showrunner said, adding that Hawking wanted to be the one acting.
The former Cambridge research director was featured in seven episodes total, but only one in which he actually showed up in person, called "The Hawking Excitation." The 2012 appearance had Hawking reviewing a scientific paper written by Jim Parsons' Sheldon. "You clearly have a brilliant mind," Hawking tells Sheldon. "Too bad it's wrong," he deadpans epically through a voice synthesizer, before pointing out a flaw. Sheldon passes out almost immediately as a result. "Great, another fainter," Hawking says.