The Large Bang Concept Position Sandra Bullock Turned Down

All through its 12 season and 12 yr run, Chuck Lorre’s blockbuster CBS sitcom “The Large Bang Concept” performed host to a ton of visitor stars, from a number of “Star Trek” veterans to the late James Earl Jones and the legendary scholar Stephen Hawking. In line with an oral historical past of the collection, although, one specific Oscar winner, Sandra Bullock, needed to flip down a job within the collection finale, “The Stockholm Syndrome,” attributable to scheduling conflicts.

In Jessica Radloff’s 2022 ebook “The Large Bang Concept: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Sequence,” government producer Steve Holland revealed that the present’s creatives tried to ebook Bullock for a brief cameo reverse Kunal Nayyar’s character Raj Koothrappali within the episode, however she wasn’t accessible, so “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Sarah Michelle Gellar stepped in. So, what was the scene in query? Whereas Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) and his spouse Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik) settle for their Nobel Prize in physics for his or her work in tremendous asymmetry, their mates Leonard and Penny Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco), Howard Wolowitz and Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz (Simon Helberg and Melissa Rauch), and Raj watch from the viewers. Raj is inexplicably joined by Gellar, who tells him they’re not on a date.

“Sandra Bullock was really our first go-to due to Koothrappali’s lengthy love of her,” Holland stated within the ebook. “We had been actually enthusiastic about it, however we acquired a well mannered decline as a result of she was taking pictures a film and wasn’t accessible. However we had been very excited Sarah was accessible to come back on. And we had talked about ‘Buffy’ earlier than within the collection, the place Leonard was going to indicate ‘Buffy’ to Penny. We had been additionally massive ‘Buffy’ followers within the writers room, so it actually labored out effectively.”

The actual fact of the matter is that, whether or not he is sitting subsequent to Sandra Bullock or Sarah Michelle Gellar, Raj’s ending on “The Large Bang Concept” type of stinks. All through the ultimate seasons of the present, the entire different main characters pair up — Howard with Bernadette, Leonard with Penny, and Sheldon with Amy — and the primary two {couples} even have youngsters (Howard and Bernadette have two kids by the collection finale, and Leonard and Penny discover out they’re anticipating through the episode). Poor Raj, a lifelong romantic — as is evidenced by his love for Bullock, a romantic comedy icon — will get left within the lurch and ends the collection utterly alone, regardless of relationship a handful of ladies all through the present.

This does get addressed in Jessica Radloff’s ebook, however government producer Steve Molaro defended the doubtful determination of not letting Raj discover lasting love. “I am glad we did not go that route,” Molaro stated of pairing Raj off earlier than the top of the present. “There is a unhappy irony to the truth that he is the one who remained on his personal by way of to the top when arguably his character needed love essentially the most. Perhaps he needed it a lot it affected his pursuit of it and made it harder, however I do not suppose there’s any disgrace in being single. Doing it this fashion felt extra reasonable and a nicer technique to finish it.”

It is a bit of arduous to pin down precisely which film stored Sandra Bullock from taking part within the collection finale of “The Large Bang Concept,” particularly as a result of the episode filmed within the spring of 2019 … and two of Bullock’s massive releases got here out one yr prior in 2018. That yr, she led each the Netflix apocalyptic thriller “Fowl Field” and Gary Ross’ (frankly underrated) franchise sequel “Ocean’s 8,” nevertheless it’s tough to say which filming schedule would have prevented her from saying sure to being Raj’s non-date on “The Large Bang Concept.” Her subsequent undertaking, the drama “The Unforgivable,” did not hit theaters till 2019, in order that’s undoubtedly a risk — however that is additionally a conspicuous two-year hole.

With out stepping into too a lot hypothesis right here, I’ve to marvel if Bullock merely stated no as a result of she simply … would not actually do TV. In comparison with her movie resumé, Bullock has finished principally zero tv throughout her profession; in truth, her final small-screen look was all the way in which again in 1996 on “Muppets Tonight,” the place she merely performed herself. (She did produce “The George Lopez Present,” however that does not really matter.) The purpose is, although, that Bullock determined to not be a part of “The Large Bang Concept” through the collection finale, and Sarah Michelle Gellar was prepared and ready.

“The Large Bang Concept” is streaming on Max now.