It’s official: The Big Bang Theory franchise will live on — not on CBS, which currently airs Young Sheldon, but on HBO Max, where a second spinoff from executive producer Chuck Lorre is currently in active development.
The news comes nearly four years after Big Bang wrapped its 12-season, 279-episode run. At the time, Lorre told TVLine that a solid spinoff conceit failed to materialize before the multi-cam completed production. “Unless there was a creative reason to do it — a wonderfully, wonderfully creative reason to do it — than the only reason [to do it] is economics, and that’s not good enough,” he explained. “This is hard work. And if you’re going to do it, you gotta love what you’re doing; you’ve gotta be passionate about it. And if you’re just chasing money, that’s not enough.”
That leads us to believe that Lorre & Co. must have a pretty spectacular idea in mind now. Might it involve one or several returning cast members from the mothership? Or will they go the prequel route again, telling the origin story of another OG character? Perhaps it’ll be neither of those things, but rather a sequel with loose ties to the mothership — anything’s possible!
While we await more concrete details, TVLine has come up with five spinoff ideas of its own. Scroll down to review them all, then hit the comments and describe your dream Big Bang offshoot.
The mothership wrapped its 12-season run without giving Raj his Happily Ever After. Sure, he got to take Sarah Michelle Gellar to Sheldon and Amy’s Nobel Prize acceptance ceremony in Stockholm, but he still hadn’t found “the one.” All his friends had coupled up — heck, even Stuart found Denise! — and he was left all alone. A Raj-centric spinoff could offer Kunal Nayyar’s alter ego the fairytale ending he deserved.
The premise writes itself. Give Stuart a new set of friends — perhaps they’re all frequenters of The Comic Center — and voila! Spinoff! In addition to Kevin Sussman, the Powers That Be could bring back Lauren Lapkus as Stuart’s girlfriend Denise, who he’d just agreed to move in with in Big Bang‘s penultimate episode.
As TVLine previously reported, the Powers That Be have begun having “conversations” about whether to end Young Sheldon with its upcoming Season 7. Should that be the case, the prequel could keep going after Sheldon heads to CalTech and George passes away, showing viewers how Mary, Missy, Georgie, Mandy, C.C. and Meemaw forge ahead without them.
Young Sheldon‘s Season 2 finale offered glimpses of pint-sized Leonard, Penny, Howard, Raj, Bernadette and Amy — and we know from Big Bang that any one of their respective childhoods is ripe with storytelling potential.
Akin to Hulu’s How I Met Your Father, the new show could be a sequel series with loose ties to the original — perhaps a new set of CalTech brainiacs move into Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment? The premise would allow for Easter eggs and occasional run-ins with characters from the mothership, while also affording the franchise the opportunity to continue on in the present day without the full-time return of any one Big Bang cast member. Heck, if they set the spinoff far enough into the future, those brainiacs could be the children of Leonard and Penny, Sheldon and Amy, and Howard and Bernadette.
Doesn’t sound like a great idea, but then I predicted Young Sheldon would flop, and it’s one of my favorite shows. So don’t go by me.
I think you and I are thinking the exact same thing lol.
My thoughts exactly
All I know is whoever wrote the article did a bad job with not ONLY the grammar but using more than one noun and adjectives in a row in a sentence
Two female scientists are living in a Pasadena apartment. One is a physicist; the other is a computer genius who’s trying to sell an app that combines Facebook with dating sites with AI. The first one is proudly neurodivergent and asexual, while the other is trying to form a throuple with the hot surfer couple who just moved in across the hall. They work at CalTech, and for some reason they’re friends with Stuart and Kripke and that geologist guy and Wil Wheaton, and any other minor characters from the old series who have nothing better to do. Every once in a while, the former residents of their apartment stop by, looking older than we expect. And then at the end of the first season, it turns out that one of the roommates is Georgie Cooper’s daughter.
You had me at the start then lost me at the end.
That’s why sitcoms have writer’s rooms.
I could definitely see doing something around Stuart, Denise and the comic book store, but unless they changed locals, it would be a shame not to see some of the other guys show up to visit from time to time.
I would love to see Kripke, Bert, and Zach drop by the comic book store. Stuart had some the best lines. loved his character.
I think I like the comic book shop idea the most. And I always love getting more Lauren Lapkus.
By the way this is a different Lauren, lol.
Well with the success of the Night Court reboot helmed by Melissa Rauch and her husband it’s a pretty safe bet the new series will probably not involve Howard and Bernedette. I do like the Stuart centered possibility but the Raj happily ever after story line is a good. I think a great possibility might be to have the sort of next generation idea but still have a majority of the main characters in it. From what I understand at the end of the original show the majority of the cast save for Jim Parsons were willing to keep going with the show. So maybe do what The Conners did and carry one without Sheldon, Amy, Howard, and Bernadette in some way. There is a huge realm of possibilities here let’s just hope they don’t turn this into an unwatchable flub like Joey was after Friends ended.
Bernedette leaves Howard for some moronic thing he did & moves east….then he & Raj move in together. Maybe Stuart and Denise live nearby
you know it’s funny I was thinking it should be a Next Generation thing
I think having the story line go 20+ years ahead with their children would be fun. They’d have to have ALL different personalities and not the same jobs as the parents.
Same, I would love that.
me too. I think seeing maybe Big Bang characters as occasional visitors as parents would be great. Even Grandma Mary, and Leonard’s Mom as a grandma would be great.
Regina King moves to an arts college HR department and meets a new group that gives her problems. She could cameo and the new group could star. I think the original cast would not come back full time.
I loved Regina King’s character! She could be with the Next Generation show idea too! Stuart and Denise could have a child by then too. Cee Cee all grown up would be a welcome addition.
I am partial to prequel origin story with Leonard. Or a continuation of Leonard and Penny raising their child. Stuart has never interested me. And Raj was my least favorite character, and I don’t think there is a lot there, since he could not even speak to females well into BBT. And his parents did not care for each other. I am not sure a Next Generation would work unless they are Haley, Michael, Leonard’s child and Sheldon and Amy’s son Leonard. And they would really have to go into the future to get there…
Yeah it would have to be like 15 years ahead in the future at least and for a show with a lot of tech, i don’t want to see lame attempts at future technology. It would be cringe. Present day or prequel only please.
I was thinking the same thing. There’s no way we can visualize what technology will be like that far in the future … unless they want to create a sci-fi version! (Kidding!)
I doubt very much Kaley Cuoco or Johnny Galecki are interested. Both are new parents. I think it will center around the lesser known actors and actresses with appearance by Jim Parsons, Mayim Bialik and the rest.
I am positive that Sheldon and Amy have childREN. It wasn’t just Leonard. Leonard came up bc they were having a graduation party and Sheldon was comparing favorites times… mentioned Leonard, discussed the desire for Leonard Nimoy if I’m not mistaken (but maybe I’m just thinking about his not grown embryo. ) I could swear he says of his kids blah blah blah. But I’ll go look it up.
Yes definitely. End of season one, Young Sheldon talks about the joy of writing up contracts w friends, whomever, and his kids. Season 5, ep 16, Adult Sheldon and Amy have small argument abt having to sell his comic bk collection in order to pay for their college education. Since Sheldon’s answer one time to how many kids would you like (s11) was 15, it’s not surprising that he and Amy have a couple (I of course have no idea how many). College isn’t expensive. It costs more than small Islands. The cost is UNBELIEVABLE!!
Parsons was the one who wanted to end BBT. I could totally see Cuoco and/or Galecki being up for some involvement in a spin off
I like the idea of either a Raj-centric show or The Coopers post-Sheldon. Young Sheldon has become the least interesting character on the show. It would nice if they were also both traditional sitcoms in front of an audience.
I agree with you on both points. I could also get behind a Raj centric show. Imagine he takes a job at NASA in Houston and runs into a suddenly single Missy Cooper…. With Cobra Kai wrapping up Courtney Henggeler should be available.
Hmm, interesting ideas. Right now my favorite would be The Coopers with Sheldon away at college/working at Cal Tech. I would also be interested in Stuart and the Comic Book store as well as a ‘Young Raj’ show. I don’t think I could stand to watch a ‘Young Leonard’ show, not with what we already know about his mother, although I LOVE Christine Baranski, just not the character of Beverly Hofstadler.
I think blending all the above into the spin off would be a fantastic opportunity to use them all… they are all great ideas for HBO/Max series… there is so many opportunities for an ongoing story.the Big Bang theory is by far one of the best shows as is young sheldon I still watch the reruns everyday on fox and TBS ..I say blend all the above…
No, that would be overkill. There’s no way a show can be all things to all people. Just pick a direction and go with it with the best possible scripts and cast.
i have a idea for a spin off about adult missy maybe one of her kids turns out to be like her brother sheldon like you can have her move to cali for her child and have a adult paige who is her best friend moves to help her and georgie adult daugther Constance Cooper goes with them because she wants to see more then just texas and you can have adult georgie and mandy make guest visit and mary as well make vists and have penny and leonard gave missy there apartment and sheldon and amy gave there apartment to Constance because both couple moved to the suburbs near cal tech
Whew! Take a breath, Chase manaena! Every hear of punctuation?
Call me a 73 year old dork but I would watch any of the above.
Sheldon has been getting on my last nerve the past couple of years, but I like the rest of the Coopers, especially Georgie.
I would tune into the last idea but the rest I have no interest in.
Please not Raj. The character has been played out
Barry Kripke!!
My guess is if this is for HBO Max A season will only have about 10 episodes. This would allow almost any of the regular cast to keep their current projects and appear in the series. The only idea I like is one that is a continuation. Featuring all or any of the original BB characters. If I had to pick in order of preference for selected characters it would be
1) Leonard and Penny how they changed their lives changed as parents
2) Raj’s love life with Howard appearances
3) Stewart’s life and the Comic book store
I think Young Amy would interest me the most. Those parents – ripe for development. Hidden things she never mentioned in TBBT – a disabled brother who died young. Her bisexuality could be explored further. We could also have glimpses of her future – her child Leonard with Sheldon, etc. Her unexpected love of Neil Diamond. Her emerging brilliance and her troubles at school. Oh please! I’d eat this for breakfast, dinner and tea.
I’ll advise on Amy’s schooldays if you wish – been through it all 😆
Loved little Amy! So adorable! A sitcom with her and the other little ones.,..so cute and LOTS of storylines!
Sheldon is now the least interesting part of Young Sheldon, the actor is brillant but the fact that all Sheldon’s growth happened in BBT blocks any evolution of the character during his youth. But I am all in for the Coopers. Missy, Georgie, Memaw and now the addition of Emily Osment is really good comedy. And I am positively surprised of the drama they put in YS, it’s not joke-joke-laugh like BBT ended up being, they succeeded at having deeper characters and story so keep it up!
I love all of these ideas. I would watch them all.
Keep up the good work. We need more laughter in this world.
“and we know from Big Bang that any one of their respective childhoods is ripe with storytelling potential.”
… only one? Both Leonard and his father as the black sheep in their own household, and Penny’s Nebraska roots could make good shows.
Please bring the Big Bang Theory back to Tbs Some of us can not afford HBO or Discovery+.
We have watched this show since it first started. We are addicted!!
missy cooper is a good actor
something should come from her what ablut penny and leaonard baby and sheldon and amys lil boy
I’d love to keep the whole family going without Sheldon and the dad, since he is going to pass away. I love Annie Potts!