Galecki Dishes on Parsons' Failed Attempt at a Graceful Big Bang Exit
Johnny Galecki shares that Jim Parsons failed to give his co-stars a heads-up about his big exit from The Big Bang Theory after they'd been working together for 12 years.
The Big Bang Theory is one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time. It revolves around the lives and loves of genius physicist Sheldon Cooper and his friends.
The CBS show aired for 12 years, from September 2007 to May 2019, and ended with the exit of its main star Jim Parsons. Despite the lighter tone of the sitcom, it didn't escape its share of behind-the-scenes drama. A recently published book of interviews with the creators and stars of The Big Bang Theory revealed that one of the biggest misunderstandings among the show's cast had been about it ending after Season 12.
Jessica Radloff, the author of the book, found out that not every cast member of the Big Bang Theory was happy about the way Jim Parsons handled his exit. The news about his decision "to move on" that inevitably led to the show's end came like a bolt from the blue.
Cast members were caught off-guard, many tears were shed. Johnny Galecki, the actor playing Sheldon's best friend Leonard Hofstadter, told Radloff that the cast was "blindsided" by the news. The most shocking thing for the actor was the way his co-star handled his departure.
"He hadn't had that conversation with his castmates first to prepare us," Galecki explained.
The actor added that after 12 years of working together, the cast felt like a family, so a preliminary talk preparing them for the big news would have been much better than just breaking the news out of the blue. After all, it affected everyone with the show not being able to go on without its star. The decision itself felt right, Galecki said, but the way it was managed left him confused.
Galecki shared that when he heard the news for the first time, he found it hard to handle how heartbroken everyone was and had an impulse to confront the decision to end the show. But given he felt the same way Parsons did and wanted to move on, Galecki stopped himself and showed understanding instead.
"I stopped myself from doing so and I hugged [Jim] instead," the actor described.
Eventually, all the cast members agreed with Parsons' decision and put the misunderstanding behind them.