The Big Bang Theory has built up one of the most impressive guest star lists of any TV show currently airing -- The Simpsons obviously takes the top prize there -- and the show will keep that streak going with this week's episode. In it, Sheldon, Amy and the rest will welcome Lord of the Rings vet Sean Astin and Harold & Kumar alum Kal Penn. You can check out the two guest stars' first look for the upcoming episode below.
It looks to me as if Sean Astin and Kal Penn's characters are just as happy to be involved with this plotline as the Big Bang Theory cast members were to have the two actors joining the show in its final season. (Kunal Nayaar really loved having Penn around, too.) It also kind of looks like Penn could be amused by the somewhat disheveled Astin appearing as if he just woke up from taking a nap beneath the very restaurant table they're sitting at.
It sounds like a joke, but Sean Astin and Kal Penn are playing a pair of brilliant Chicago physicists named Dr. Pemberton and Dr. Campbell, respectively. And as Sheldon and the other characters have proven time and again over the years, sitcom physicists are generally stressed out and will sporadically show off strange behavior patterns. In any case, there's a good chance that Sheldon and Amy will want to shove the visiting doctors under the table.
When they arrive, Drs. Pemberton and Campbell have exciting news: they've managed to prove correct Shamy's super asymmetry theory, which has been an ongoing plotline for the couple. There's one downside to all of this, and it's a pretty gigantic one. The two men aim to remove Amy from contention for a Nobel nomination, which is obviously pure blasph-Amy. (Where's MY Nobel Prize?) Just look at the difference in moods between the two parties.
One would assume that Sheldon and Amy manage to get the upper hand here, by either convincing Sean Astin and Kal Penn's physicists to keep her on board, or by somehow getting the two men's work deemed unusable for whatever reason. I can't imagine The Big Bang Theory would spend its final season delivering a series of professional setbacks to Sheldon and Amy, just to have them completely fail all over again in the end.
Unless, what if Sean Astin is really playing a revised version of Bob from Stranger Things, who brings his knowledge of Hawkins' Upside Down to...nah, that's just too crazy, right? Right?!?
Below, you can check out the trailer for the episode, titled "The Confirmation Polarization."
Are you guys pumped to see Sean Astin and Kal Penn making their debuts on The Big Bang Theory? This season already welcomed billionaire Bill Gates into the fold, along with welcoming back past guest stars such as Bob Newhart, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Keith Carradine, Christine Baranski and more. Now if only Elijah Wood and John Cho could team up as the guest stars for the next week's episode.
The Big Bang Theory airs Thursday nights on CBS at 8:00 p.m. ET, and there are only a healthy handful of episodes left to go before the show bids fans a fond farewell. To see what'll be popping up in primetime before that happens, keep current with our midseason TV schedule.
