The Big Bang Theory isn’t approaching its final season any differently than the 11 others that helped make CBS’ nerdy hit TV’s No. 1 comedy.
The multicamera entry from co-creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady and exec producers Steve Molaro and Steve Holland won’t plot out its final 24 episodes and won’t look to provide answers to some of its biggest burning questions (Penny’s last name? It’s Hofstadter now).
To hear showrunner Holland tell it, the final season will focus more on providing a satisfying ending for Sheldon (Jim Parsons), Leonard (Johnny Galecki), Penny (Kaley Cuoco), Howard (Simon Helberg), Raj (Kunal Nayyar), Amy (Mayim Bialik) and Bernadette (Melissa Rauch).
When the comedy returns Monday with the first of its remaining 24 episodes, it will be business as usual with Sheldon and Amy enjoying their honeymoon (watch an exclusive clip below). In fact, producers and the cast didn’t know the show would be ending until after the first six or seven episodes had been written. The decision to call it a day on the ensemble comedy — which was made by Emmy-winner Parsons with support from Lorre, who decided the show was an all-or-nothing venture — didn’t derail any of the storylines producers had planned. That includes following up on Sheldon and Amy’s big scientific discovery from their wedding day in the season 12 finale and perhaps finding love for perennial single guy Raj.
Below, Holland talks with The Hollywood Reporter about delivering a satisfying finale, balancing a closed-ended story with a sense of life going on for the gang and if Big Bangcould deliver a Friends-like ending.