What The Cast Of 'The Big Bang Theory' Is Doing Today
"The Big Bang Theory" is one of the most successful sitcoms in TV history; in 2019, it surpassed "Cheers" to become the longest-running multi-cam sitcom ever. In 2007, fans were introduced to Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) and his merry band of misfit geeks, socially awkward guys who had trouble with girls and social cues. Still, they were endearing, leading to a very active fan base that continues to this day. After all, a spin-off called "Young Sheldon" aired its final season in 2024, racking up more than a hundred episodes of its own.
Reflecting on the end of "The Big Bang Theory," Parsons spoke with Entertainment Weekly. "Whatever ends up happening to us, this is life-altering," he said. "You may be part of something else that is as life-altering as this, but that's a high bar to hurdle." Co-star Kaley Cuoco agreed, noting, "I'm going to owe all of my career to this show. No matter what I do after this. This is what made us who we are."
In the years since the show has been off the air, the entire cast has gone on to other projects. Several of them have crossed over, continuing to work together thanks to the relationships they spent more than a decade developing on CBS. Others have been doing their own thing, forging their own paths in new areas of the entertainment industry that they weren't able to explore before. This is what the cast of "The Big Bang Theory" is doing today.
Jim Parsons has been exploring dramatic roles
When "The Big Bang Theory" concluded in 2019, Jim Parsons had played Sheldon Cooper for 280 episodes. That's not all, though; he also provided narration on "Young Sheldon," the spin-off about his iconic nerd's younger years. That means, as of press time, Parsons has played Sheldon on a staggering 414 episodes of television. That's a lot of "Bazinga!" Parsons also stopped by to reprise Old Sheldon in the 2024 series finale of the spin-off. "It was beautiful," he told Entertainment Tonight. "It was even more beautiful than I expected it to be."
Parsons has been focused on dramatic roles in the years since his sitcom ended. In 2020, he played lecherous talent agent Henry Willson in Ryan Murphy's "Hollywood." In 2022, he starred in "Spoiler Alert," a dramatic romance about entertainment writer Michael Ausiello. He told The Associated Press that he took the role to move away from Sheldon, but that wasn't the only benefit. "I was drawn to the material because it affected me so powerfully," he said.
Parsons is now also openly gay, which he wasn't when "The Big Bang Theory" began. Speaking with Variety, he reflected that being able to play gay characters has renewed his passion for his craft. "[T]hey have been such rich characters and in such interesting storylines that I have had an awakening of how much I love as an actor — and, if I may say, artist — bringing myself to the work," he said.
Kaley Cuoco is a queen of the streaming space
Kaley Cuoco played Penny on "The Big Bang Theory," the pretty girl who befriends (and marries one of) the nerds who make up the show's cast. She was one of the hit sitcom's biggest breakout stars. At one point, she became one of the highest-paid women on television. (Other "Big Bang Theory" cast members made less.)
After "The Big Bang Theory," Cuoco made her mark in the streaming space. She led two seasons of Max's "The Flight Attendant," which netted her two Emmy nominations for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series. In the series, Cuoco played an alcoholic flight attendant who has to solve a murder and finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy. She told Variety that the second season was particularly difficult because she was getting divorced around the same time her character had to face uncomfortable truths about herself. "I was throwing myself into work to deny my depression and how upset I was," she said. "Unfortunately, the character was so depressed that it wasn't helping me."
After "The Flight Attendant," Cuoco starred on Peacock's 2023 true-crime satire "Based on a True Story." She was pregnant during filming, and her pregnancy was written into the show. As she told NBC, it felt right to have this new phase of her life captured on camera. "I've really grown up on television," she said, "so to now be pregnant on TV, for the show, is actually really cool."
Johnny Galecki has focused on his family
On "The Big Bang Theory," Johnny Galecki played Leonard, the super-smart guy who romances Kaley Cuoco's Penny. When the show ended, Galecki told Entertainment Weekly that it would always be the biggest thing in their careers, no matter what came next. "It will never be fully eclipsed. We will always be associated with one another," he said. "It's such an incredibly unique experience that only the seven of us can really understand.
After "The Big Bang Theory" ended, Galecki popped in for a few episodes of "The Conners," rejoining castmates from his "Roseanne" days. However, he hasn't been back since 2019. Executive producer Bruce Helford defended the show's decision to make his character an absentee dad in an interview with TVLine, explaining, "Johnny is just too busy. We love him, and he would love to be doing stuff with us, but it just hasn't worked out scheduling-wise."
That may be true, but Galecki hasn't acted since that 2019 appearance on "The Conners." Instead, it appears that he has been focused on his family life. In 2024, he revealed that he had not only secretly gotten married, but had become a father. The information came as an aside in an Architectural Digest profile of his new Tennessee home, chosen because Galecki was ready to leave Hollywood. "Thirty years is just a very long time to live in a city that you're not all that comfortable in," he said.
Simon Helberg's new look turned heads
Simon Helberg's "Big Bang Theory" character, Howard Wolowitz, had a distinctive hairstyle throughout the show's run. His helmet-like hair indicated a fastidious guy who was overly concerned with his appearance, even if he was way off trend. "I don't wear a wig. ... My hair is flat-ironed, however," Helberg revealed during a Q&A on Twitter (via TV Guide). He disliked Howard's tight pants, telling TheTwoCents, "I'll see a pair of pants and wonder why there's only one leg ... and then I'll realize that they're just that skinny. Sometimes, I need help from the two poor women to take them off."
In 2021, Helberg starred in "Annette," a film in which he played an orchestra conductor who matches wits with Adam Driver and a particularly talented puppet. The dark, strange film was a drastic departure from his "Big Bang Theory" days, which he told IndieWire was an intentional choice. "The things I've gotten to do outside the show have all been, stylistically and creatively, the types of projects that I just gravitate towards more in my own, just in my own taste," he said.
In 2023, he was in two episodes of Peacock detective series "Poker Face." Fans were excited to see him stretch his acting muscles once again. One wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "Simon Helberg was great in both Annette and Poker Face, really fun career post The Big Bang Theory, very much hope he pops up in a lot more things!"
Kunal Nayyar has been very busy
When "The Big Bang Theory" began, Kunal Nayyar's character Raj Koothrappali was too nervous to talk to Kaley Cuoco's Penny. He managed to grow over the course of the show, becoming ever-so-slightly more confident. Nayyar was emotional when the show ended, telling "The Ellen Degeneres Show," "I don't think there's any word in any language ever written that could describe what I'm feeling. I'm feeling all of it. I'm feeling sad. I'm feeling exhilarated. I'm feeling tired. ... I'm cried out, I'm laughed out, it's all of it."
Since "The Big Bang Theory" ended, Nayyar has reprised Guy Diamond, his 2016 "Trolls" voice-over role, in three more animated films. In a behind-the-scenes interview with The Movie Times, Nayyar joked, "He's the glittery one who farts glitter. I did that in my audition; that's why I got the part." Nayyar also explained, "I love playing this character because he's really sweet." In 2024, he starred opposite Adam Sandler in "Spaceman," a Netflix film in which he plays a ground control scientist communicating with Sandler up in space.
That same year, Nayyar also popped in on "Night Court," the NBC sitcom led by his former "Big Bang Theory" castmate Melissa Rauch. He told Entertainment Weekly that he considers Rauch a sister, so he was happy to appear on the show in order to work with her again. "Being in each other's presence was a real joy," he said. "It was almost unreal."
Mayim Bialik was let go from her Jeopardy gig
"Blossom" star (and real-life PhD in neuroscience) Mayim Bialik joined the cast of "The Big Bang Theory" in the show's third season. Amy Fowler is just as much of a nerd as any of the boys, a quality that endears her to Sheldon. After the show ended, Bialik led her own sitcom, "Call Me Kat," for three seasons. She told Forbes that it was a rewarding experience. "I can absolutely say that my time on 'Big Bang Theory' was fantastic, and my time on 'Blossom' was life‑changing, but this whole team has made this, for me personally, the greatest job I've ever had," she said.
Bialik was also tapped to be one of the late Alex Trebek's replacements on "Jeopardy." Despite her extensive academic background, Bialik told Entertainment Weekly that she would never want to compete on the iconic quiz show herself. "I would cry, I think," she said, pointing out that she often doesn't know the answer herself, even as she hosts the game. "Answering things like that under pressure with a timer is not gonna happen for me," she reasoned.
In 2023, she was let go from "Jeopardy." Executive producer Michael Davies revealed at a press conference (via People) that others wanted it that way. "[W]hat we've heard from a lot of television stations and other interested parties is that they wanted more consistency," he said. "They wanted a single host ... Ken [Jennings] really won the job."
Melissa Rauch stars on NBC's Night Court
Melissa Rauch's character Bernadette Rostenkowski was introduced in the third season of "The Big Bang Theory" as an adorably geeky love interest for Howard, Simon Helberg's character. She and Helberg got particularly close while filming. She joked with Entertainment Weekly that their relationship changed over the course of filming just as her character did, quipping, "Simon was so kind and sweet and funny. I wish he was still like that."
After "The Big Bang Theory" went off the air, Rauch jumped from a CBS sitcom to an NBC one. She stars as Judge Abby Stone on the reboot of "Night Court," a gender-flipped version of the original's Harry Stone. The show brought her back in touch with "The Big Bang Theory" guest star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who popped in for an episode of "Night Court." Rauch told CinemaBlend that she was happy to work with him again, emphasizing their rapport on set. "He came and sat down next to me and my legs don't properly reach the floor and they're sort of dangling off and then Kareem sits down next to me and looks down," she recalled. "He goes, 'That's interesting.'"
Rauch told Collider that the hit show's high ratings were particularly gratifying because they confirmed what she'd already felt about the show. "I was really proud of everything that we were doing and I was personally really excited about it," she said, "but it just feels a bit like a dream come true."
Christine Baranski's Paramount+ show ended in 2023
Across 16 episodes of "The Big Bang Theory" and one episode of "Young Sheldon," Christine Baranski played Beverly Hofstadter, Leonard's mother. Even though she may not have been in every episode, Baranski told People that the character is still iconic to the show's fans. "More often than not, they point to me and say, 'Leonard's mother!'" she said, noting that she's recognized for "The Big Bang Theory" more than all her other work. "The show is just such a megahit," she reasoned. "There are worse things to be called, believe me."
Aside from Beverly, Baranski is perhaps best known for playing Diane Lockhart on "The Good Wife" and its Paramount+ spin-off "The Good Fight." The latter show came to an end in 2022, and Baranski has talked about looking forward to time off after more than a decade in the role. She told Vanity Fair that she looked forward to unplugging for a while, noting, "[T]here's so much bad news that I think we go numb. We simply can't process it. So, yeah, that's a goal that I have. The luxury of being unemployed for a while."
That said, Baranski also leads the cast of HBO's "The Gilded Age." She told Harper's Bazaar that she hopes that show goes as long as her previous one did because it would allow her time to perfect the performance. She proclaimed, "Time is the greatest extravagance and the greatest gift to an actor."
Wil Wheaton became an author
Iconic "Star Trek" vet and occasional audiobook narrator Wil Wheaton played himself on numerous episodes of "The Big Bang Theory" spread across a decade, becoming something of a rival to Sheldon before eventually functioning more as a friend. Wheaton told TV Insider that it was hard to make that transition because he'd already had his mind set on playing a version of himself that was different than who he was in real life. "When we started to transition from that Wil Wheaton, from being a villain to ally and part of the 'friend' group, he started to become more like who I am," Wheaton recalled. "First, I had to adjust to being a villain to, basically, being myself."
Since the show ended, Wheaton has continued performing copious amounts of voice-over acting work. He reprised the role of Wesley Crusher on both "Star Trek: Picard" and "Star Trek: Below Decks," and he's been on "S.W.A.T.," "Dogs in Space," and "American Dad," among other projects. Wheaton is also an author, and in 2022, he published an annotated version of a previous book, called "Still Just a Geek." In an interview with The Los Angeles Public Library, Wheaton said he'd love to write a novel someday. "Telling my story in 'Still Just a Geek' was and is meaningful to me," he said, "and I'm grateful for all of this, but I still want to tell a character's story, so I can make things up."