In 2019, The Big Bang Theory ended after twelve seasons and as many years – an ending that was largely determined by the series’ star, Jim Parsons. So why did Parsons decide to leave Sheldon Cooper and his huge collection of superhero t-shirts behind? There was just a lot going on in his personal life at the time.
Speaking to former Doctor Who star David Tennant on his podcast in August 2020, Parsons revealed that he felt he was ending his run as Sheldon when he signed a two-year contract after the show’s tenth anniversary. “Our last contract was for the last two years, but nobody knew when we signed it what that would mean. I kind of had an inkling that that would be it for me when I signed that contract, but you never say never and who knows,” Parsons told Tennant. But that wasn’t the only consideration.
Parsons also revealed to Tennant that he experienced something truly traumatic after season 10: the fact that one of his dogs was getting old. “I was exhausted and more than anything, I was really saddened by the fact that one of our dogs was really at the end of his life at that time,” he said.
Jim Parsons spent the end of The Big Bang Theory juggling personal and professional commitments
If you’ve only ever seen him in the role of Sheldon Cooper, you might be surprised to learn that Jim Parsons is an incredibly accomplished stage actor – he made his Broadway debut in Larry Kramer’s 2011 play The Normal Heart and has performed on and off the Great White Way ever since. In 2018, a year before The Big Bang Theory wrapped, Parsons was pulling double duty, appearing in both a Broadway production of Boys in the Band (which also starred Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells and Zachary Quinto) and filming The Big Bang Theory on the opposite coast. Between those commitments and his dog’s declining health – and eventual death – Parsons told David Tennant it was just a Really hard times.
Then, during “Boys in the Band,” Parsons suffered a foot injury, and as he told Tennant, the incident practically drove him mad. “That was the worst moment of the next few days because I didn’t know – I felt like I was standing on the edge of a cliff, I was teetering and I saw something really dark beneath me, between the death of the dog, and I don’t know what they would have done if I hadn’t been able to get back on stage for the play.” It wasn’t the injury, however, that led Parsons to his decision about “The Big Bang Theory” – it was something much more personal.
The memory of Jim Parsons’ late father helped him in his great career choice
According to his interview with David Tennant, Jim Parsons did some relatively macabre calculations and realized that his father died at 52… and that Parsons himself would be 46 when The Big Bang Theory season 12 premiered. With that in mind, he spoke to showrunner Chuck Lorre and producer Steve Molaro and told them that he wanted to leave the show after season 12 ended.
“I had this moment of clarity that I think in many ways you are very lucky to experience. ‘Don’t drive past too fast.’ You know? ‘Use the time to look around,‘” Parsons recalled. Apparently telling Lorre and Molaro that he needed to leave the sitcom behind and try something else, he told the pair, “If you told me that I had six years to live like my father, I think there are other things I need to try and do.”
You can’t really argue with that reasoning, and it all worked out for the best in the end. The Big Bang Theory ended in 2019, and since then, Parsons has found freedom to pursue more stage work, including productions of Mother Play and Our Town in 2024, and he also starred in the 2022 film Spoiler Alert. If you really want to relive his days as Sheldon, you can stream The Big Bang Theory on Max now.
