Season 10 of The Big Bang Theory is sure to be, well, a big one. With Leonard and Penny finally having a family and friend fueled wedding, Howard and Bernadette getting baby-fied, everyone getting to meet more of Penny's family and the parental units of Leonard and Sheldon possibly doing the big smoosh, things are going to be very intriguing around the old apartment. But, what every fan under the sun is wondering is whether or not the show will last past this year. And, the even bigger question, can the show go on if one of the stars decides to leave? Showrunner Steve Molaro has some ideas on that possibility.
I have no idea. I think it would certainly be different and weird. There's no point in me wondering what it could be when I have 19 scripts staring down at me that need to get written.
I think we can all agree that Steve Molaro is absolutely right when he says that, should one of the seven stars decide to leave, things would be super "different and weird" on The Big Bang Theory. For one thing, we have three couples on the show, and while there's no rule saying that one or more of these couples can't break up, it would seem odd to suddenly have Penny, Leonard, Howard, Bernadette, Sheldon or Amy around without their significant other of several seasons. It's true that all of the guys were around before their female counterparts were introduced as romantic elements, but those three couples are too much of a unit now for a breakup to be a realistic, or welcome, change.
As for Raj, poor, lovelorn Raj who can never quite get his romantic relationships just right (when he even has romantic relationships), the show needs someone who's still unattached and living the single life. Still having a bit of that dynamic, and having Raj's coupled friends counsel him, feels like a situation that's still ripe with comedy potential for the series. It would be a shame to lose that factor.
There's no word yet if the cast is completely on board with another season of the show. All of their contracts are up at the end of Season 10, and none of them have signed new ones just yet; it seems as though everyone is waiting for a big time pay raise to accompany putting pen to paper for a possible Season 11 and beyond before making that happen.
I can certainly see Steve Molaro not wanting to get too ahead of himself where it comes to writing the show for less main characters. He's got enough to think about just planning out this season and seeing it come to fruition. And, that job proves to be difficult enough. He also had this to say to THR during the same interview:
We don't really arc out stories too far and we let things happen organically and if things catch us by surprise --- like Bernadette being pregnant or something like that --- if it feels right, we go with it. It's more of that and if and when we know something that's actual information that can be helpful [regarding the contracts], we may do something differently but until then, we're sticking to the game plan.
Yeah, let's not stress Steve Molaro out by making him think about how to write a character off the show for Season 11, OK? The guy is still working his way through Season 10 and can't get too far ahead of himself. Just let the man stick to his current game plan and give us a fabulous and fun-filled Season 10, alright? We can all check out The Big Bang Theory when it returns to CBS on September 19.
