The 12th season of CBS's long-running CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory will be its last, the network, Warner Bros. Television, and Chuck Lorre Productions have confirmed.
"We, along with the cast, writers and crew, are extremely appreciative of the show's success and aim to deliver a final season, and series finale, that will bring The Big Bang Theory to an epic creative close," they said.
The Big Bang Theory Ends With Season 12
The announcement comes as a bit of a surprise — just weeks ago Kelly Kahl, head of CBS Entertainment, said the network and Warner Bros. were contemplating on the show's future beyond Season 12, as Variety notes.
"We don't believe it's the final year," Kahl said at the time. "We are in preliminary discussions to renew the show with Warner Bros."
Some of the cast members have previously expressed that they'd be fine with the idea of the show ending on its 12th season. Johnny Galecki, who plays Leonard Hofstadter, said so back in January.
"I think at this point everyone is very comfortable with 12 seasons being a good time to go home and see our families."
Contract Negotiations And Pay Grades
The Big Bang Theory was renewed for 11th and 12th seasons last year, with five of the cast members striking new deals, including Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Kunal Nayyar, Simon Helberg, and Jim Parsons. They reportedly cut their salaries so costars Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik could have higher payouts.
Though it's already on its 12th season, The Big Bang Theory remains a pop culture staple and is still one of CBS's top-performing shows at the moment. After all, it takes a huge amount of confidence for a network to give a show two more seasons right off the bat. As such, unlike most shows, The Big Bang Theory's cancellation probably isn't because of low ratings.
According to sources familiar with the show, it's largely because of timing. The stars' contracts all expired with the upcoming season, and both the network and cast members didn't seem to want to go through another grueling process of negotiations. Previous negations reportedly took months, with all members eventually agreeing to take pay cuts to raise Rauch and Bialik's salaries.
Are you fan of The Big Bang Theory? Are you sad to see it go after 12 seasons? As always, if you have anything to share, feel free to sound them off in the comments section below!
