The Big Bang Theory was an iconic show where every single cast member and character was vital to its success. So, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that the show ended its 12-season run when one of the main cast no longer wanted to return to the show.
Fans were a little surprised to hear that the cast member in question was Jim Parsons who played lovable nerd, Sheldon Cooper.
*The Big Bang Theory* was one of the most popular sitcoms in the world from 2007-2019.
In total, the show has received 223 various award nominations and has won a total of 55, including Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe, and various People’s Choice Awards.
A large part of its popularity was owed to the character Sheldon Cooper, who was played by Jim Parsons.
Sheldon will go down in history as one of the most memorable and iconic nerds of all time, mark my words.
The show was originally going to run for another two seasons until Parsons declined to renew his contract.
And now, he has opened up about the reasons for this for the first time in a new interview .
“It was a complicated road, as you could imagine,” Jim said of deciding it was time for him to leave the show.
Jim added that he “kind of had a suspicion” in his heart that he would leave after Season 11.
But he didn’t know for sure until the summer of 2018.
He immediately went from filming the show to starring in The Boys In The Band on Broadway, which he said left him “exhausted.”
Combined with that, his 14-year-old dog fell “gravely ill.”
“He just looked so bad and I was so tired and I just started crying,” Jim explained about discovering the illness while he was working. “I was like, ‘This dog’s going to die while I’m off working and I feel so bad.'”
“It was the scariest moment for the next couple of days because I felt like I was at the edge of a cliff,” Jim said tearfully.
“I was in the Saturday matinee and I kept thinking, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to get to the end of this performance,'” Jim added, saying that “I was just so beaten down.”
His bad luck wasn’t over yet, though.
“I walked out for curtain call – I had one more show that night – and I slipped and broke my foot!”
“I had this moment of clarity that I think you’re very fortunate to get in a lot of ways, of going, ‘Don’t keep speeding by.’ You know? ‘Use this time to take a look around.’ And I did. I was like, ‘I gotta make a move.'”
“The other thing was that my dad had passed away years before, but he was 52,” Jim added.
“And I realized that at the end of season 12 I would be 46. And I’m not superstitious or anything like that, but it was just a context thing.”
“If you told me that like my father I had six years left to live I think there’s other things I need to try and do.”
“And I don’t even know what they are. But I can tell that I need to try,” he added, still audibly holding back tears.
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Fortunately, everybody on set understood when Jim announced that he would not be renewing his contract.
He made it clear that he worked in a very professional environment and everybody was very respectful.