Big Bang Theory Star Says It’s Too Soon for Spinoff

The Big Bang Theory, which ended its 11-season run in 2019, but it hasn’t really been gone yet. The spinoff Young Sheldon premiered in 2017, and hasn’t yet gone off the air. Now that the end is in sight for Young Sheldon, Max is reportedly working on another spinoff — but original series star Kunal Nayyar hasn’t heard anything more than you or I have. He also says it’s probably a little too soon for a full-on revival of the series, but he won’t rule out the idea of making an appearance if something set in the modern day were to get off the ground.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, not much is known about the new series, but it will involve Big Bang Theory creator Chuck Lorre and take place in the same universe as the original sitcom. As we saw with Young Sheldon, though, it could be that he will explore an unexpected corner of the universe, and not just go the expected route of watching Leonard and Penny raise a toddler or something.

“To be honest, it feels a little too soon,” Nayyar, who played the role of Raj in the original show, told TVLine. “Can you do a [revival] only four years after your show ends? That’s not a reunion show; that’s just another season.”

Nevertheless, he told them that if the spinoff actually gets off the ground, he wouldn’t completely close the door on the idea of making an apperance.

“If [the spinoff] were to happen, we’ll see what the universe says,” he said.

“I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of going on without the whole ensemble – and the whole ensemble is why we succeeded,” Lorre previously told THR. “In pulling it apart and re-approaching it as a fraction of what it was just never felt right to me. I’ve seen other shows try and fail to take a character out of their realm and carry on. And maybe Frasier is the only thing I could think of off the top of my head where it really did work, thanks to the lightning strike of David Hyde Pierce.”

Of course, in the time since, Frasier too has been revived — without David Hyde Pierce.

Big Bang Theory has been streaming exclusively on HBO Max since a deal was struck between Lorre and Warners. Young Sheldon, which currently airs new episodes on CBS, is streaming on Paramount+, which shares ownership with the network.