How Jim Parsons Really Feels About Sheldon Cooper's The Big Bang Theory Ending

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"The Big Bang Theory" came to a close after 12 seasons and the same number of years in May of 2019, and just like that, stars Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Kaley Cuoco, Melissa Rauch, and Mayim Bialik — who played Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, Howard Wolowitz, Raj Koothrappali, Penny Hofstadter, Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz, and Amy Farrah Fowler, respectively — were finished with the roles they'd inhabited for years. Ultimately, the story of "The Big Bang Theory" ends happily; Sheldon and Amy win a joint Nobel Prize in physics for their groundbreaking work in super-asymmetry, and despite a few speedbumps, all of Sheldon's friends go to Stockholm to support him during the ceremony. So, what did Parsons think of the finale?

In a post-finale feature in The Hollywood Reporter, all of the actors shared their reactions, and Parsons brought up something that the show's original creator Chuck Lorre once told him that helped bring it all together for him in the end.

"Chuck Lorre once said that watching these characters change will be like watching paint dry — you wouldn't even notice it was happening," Parsons mused. "That turned out to be both true and not true. We got to play long enough that they were allowed to change, and you did notice it because at some point they were writing enough episodes, like, well, we have to. They have to morph a little bit. And that made it really fun. I'm deeply satisfied with how it ended."

Not only that, but Parsons shared that all of the main cast members got a little parting gift, and even that made him super-emotional. "The set department was gracious enough to make us all replicas of the little placard that says 4A on the apartment," he said. "I opened that and had tears in my eyes immediately. That's been funny about closing out — it's been these little trigger moments. Like, 'I'm fine, I'm fine.' And then I'm crying."

In Jessica Radloff's 2022 book "The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series," Jim Parsons spoke to the writer at length about how much he loved the series finale, especially the reveal that Amy and Sheldon finally won a major award for their scientific venture. "I was just so happy for Amy and Sheldon in that scene when they found out they won," Parsons said before telling Radloff that he'd always hoped Sheldon's conclusion would involve a Nobel Prize. "I had been twelve years as Sheldon talking about how much the Nobel Prize meant to him, and it's one of the few things I proffered up early on of what I'd like to see happen for Sheldon," he continued. "Years ago I said, 'I would like to see him win the Nobel. He really wants one.' And then just to have it ... as far as the storyline goes, that was so satisfying."

Still, Parsons approached filming the scene where Sheldon gives a genuinely heartfelt speech, thanking his friends for their support and love throughout the years, with caution because he didn't want to betray the essential character of Sheldon, who would never get too emotional over such a thing. "Specifically, I felt apprehensive that [the writers] wanted some breakdown or something from Sheldon at the Nobel ceremony. Nobody told me that, but it was a fear of mine," Parsons said.

Thankfully, those concerns were assuaged when he began filming, and according to Parsons, it felt natural and right. "But all those fears went away as soon as we started working on it... and it felt well-balanced to me," he remembered. "There was a real moment of humanity [...] and it was really lovely. I was able to see the cast members from the podium as I spoke, and Mayim was right there next to me. It was something that I went into being apprehensive about, and in the end, it was a very memorable moment that will stick with me."

Okay, so what was it like to even try to film the landmark final episode of "The Big Bang Theory?" According to Jim Parsons, he actually considered the penultimate episode, "The Change Constant," to be his "last day of work," so to speak ... because the finale was such a big deal that it was a different animal entirely.

"It was emotional just driving to the studio," Parsons told Jessica Radloff in her book. "It was emotional the night before when I was going to sleep. I've never been through a final day which was so similar to a first day, which is like, Oh Jesus, how is this going to go? Especially when you consider all the times we had done this exact routine over and over. I remember saying to Simon and probably Mayim as well, that I was kind of counting the episode before the last one as the finale. Because I knew experience-wise, bets are off after this. The second-to-last episode was the last time it was going to be us doing an episode in the way that we've done the other 277-plus times."

Fans of "The Big Bang Theory" might know that Parsons is, to put it bluntly yet correctly, the reason "The Big Bang Theory" ended, because he realized it was the right time for him to walk away both personally and professionally (and the creative team didn't want to continue without him). Still, he says that didn't make the experience of actually bringing it to a close any easier. "And even though I knew it was the right time to say goodbye, it's such a complicated, heavy emotion," Parsons recalled. 

"There's nothing more challenging than doing your job that you're used to doing but suddenly everyone's telling you, 'This is a very special time to do it!' and it's like, Wait, what?! OK. Do I change something?' So that's kind of weird. One of the joys of being an actor, at least for me, is the ability to get in these places without all that extra help. It can depersonalize it. I think I was making efforts to keep myself [...] as unsentimental about it as possible [...] because it was way too much to kind of take in. So much life had happened in those 12 years." 

The entirety of "The Big Bang Theory," including the incredibly sweet ending, is available to stream on Max now.