New Big Bang Theory Series in Development at HBO Max
The Big Bang Theory universe is expanding to streaming.
Warner Bros. Discovery announced Wednesday that executive producer Chuck Lorre is developing a new comedy series “derived from” The Big Bang Theory. The spinoff is earmarked for HBO Max, which will soon be rebranded as Max.
Specific plot details are being kept under wraps.
The prospective offshoot would mark the second extension of the BBT franchise, following Young Sheldon. The CBS prequel, currently in Season 6, focuses on the East Texas upbringing of Jim Parsons’ breakout character, Sheldon Cooper.
As TVLine previously reported, “conversations” are underway about whether to end Young Sheldon with Season 7.
All 12 seasons of Big Bang and the first five seasons of Young Sheldon are currently streaming on HBO Max.
Big Bang currently holds the record for TV’s longest-running multi-camera comedy, having run for 279 episodes over its 12-season run, between 2007 and 2019. The series starred Johnny Galecki (as Leonard Hofstdter), Parsons (as Sheldon Cooper), Kaley Cuoco (as Penny), Kunal Nayyar (as Rajesh Koothrappali), Simon Helberg (as Howard Wolowitz), Mayim Bialik (as Amy Farrah Fowler), Melissa Rauch (as Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz) and Kevin Sussman (as Stuart Bloom).
Let’s hear it, Big Bang fans: Which character(s) would you like to see spun-off in this latest extension of the franchise? Sound off in Comments.
Who could it be centered on. Maybe Leonard’s early life. Given how bad his childhood was with his mother, cold and distant Beverly. Smart, living in New Jersey. He had a more normal life than Sheldon before he landed in California. I am curious who it could be.
That would be awesome. I have always liked Beverly’s character. One of my favorite lines from her to Leonard is: “If you want to have sex with that girl, find out what cologne her father wore.” (Or something like that) 😂😂
She is one of least favorite characters. Mary is awesome though
I don’t think that kind of series would work. It is likely a comedy. The reason Young Sheldon works is because his family accepts him and has warm moments. None of those existed for Leonard. They would have to re-write both his parents to show some kind of warmth in their own way otherwise it would be a sad, depressing show. No one wants to watch a young boy basically be emotionally abused by his parents over and over and then manipulated for experiments on top of that. Leonard’s childhood was not a comedy and I think it would be disrespectful to his character and the viewers if it was re-written as such.
As was the case of Young Sheldon. Sheldon’s true childhood was not nearly as cold and distant as his stories on BBT were. So, the same might be the case with Leonard. Beverly at best was cold and distant, with a very different view of her children. She was a type of female version of Sheldon, which is why Leonard was able to handle living with him. I think they could make it in a way. Leonard’s father was supposedly warm and loving.
Again, I think that worked with Young Sheldon because we actually saw the warmth from his family on TBBT. There were some tweaks to Young Sheldon but the characters remained true to their BBT counterparts. We saw enough of Beverly to know that there was no warm moments in Leonard’s home with her. She never even hugged him. He was so distant from his siblings that he never even talked to them so it’s unlikely they would be close in his childhood, If they were then that would make their distance as adults a bit depressing. The only wiggle room there is with Leonard is his dad. Leonard didn’t talk about him with fondness or express he ever showed any warmth or kindness but he seemed like a decent dad when he attended Leonard’s wedding. I don’t think relying on a manufactured childhood connection to his dad would be enough to elevate Leonard’s childhood from a tragedy to a believable comedy. I could see Chuck trying, but there’s better options with more potential then to do another prequel series based on any of the character’s childhoods IMO.
I would love a continuation instead of a prequel. But since they are doubtful to get Johnny and Kaley back. I can see this best idea for a prequel. Using anyone from Young Sheldon is not that interesting overall. Leonard had a very different childhood than Sheldon from what we know. He graduated in a normal time frame, but was exceptionally smart. But with two scientific parents, and siblings who ultimately went onto distinguished careers, it would be a different type of family to see. I think they can do it a way that keeps Beverly who she is.
Personally I hope that we don’t get another prequel series. That’s not creative at all. It’s basically just a rip off of Young Sheldon with a different family. I doubt Chuck would waste his time with that, but it’s not unheard of I suppose. I would much prefer a sequel and I still think the best idea is to center it around Raj and his quest to find true love. If done well, Raj can finally get the happy ending he deserves and the series can work in elements of the romcoms Raj loves so much along the journey. It would be like Raj is the star of his own romcom and that would be a fitting story for that character.
Agree with Tracy. Leonard’s mom has to remain cold and unfeeling. His father was better, but the only room for real warmth would be from his siblings who we know very little about other than he has a brother and sister. Depending on how they did a “Young Leonard” it could be too close to Young Sheldon and I’m so sure people would want to see it. A series centered on Raj could work. Call me crazy, but imagine if he ended up taking a job with NASA in Houston and he lives near the suddenly single Missy Cooper….
I could see a show about Beverly. Her life could be funny, and it would give the occasional opportunity to visit Leonard and have a check-in on the old gang.
Oh PLEASE let the whole cast return with a jump about 5 years in the future from the Series Finale!!
Let us see them deal with growing kids and a shifted dynamic.
I’m with you I would love to see Leonard and Penny as parents! Maybe Penny even becomes an actress, and let it as a stay-at-home dad! I’m one of the few people who think they could have gotten a couple of seasons of good stories without Sheldon and Amy.
Howard, Bernadette and Raj make the most sense to me. They are kinda a platonic “throuple” when you think about it. The only question is Melissa Rauch’s availability due her current gig on Night Court 2.0.
What about Leonard and Penny raising their kids?
I agree. If they are going to do a spin off, make it about Leonard and Penny 5 to 10 years in the future.
Maybe it’s the rest of Young Sheldon’s cast sans Sheldon since we know his story starting soon. The rest of the cast of YS is interesting. This could be a Conners type thing.
I think it has more ties to the original. None of the other character of Young Sheldon have origins with the origin show. They are better off, taking someone from the original show. IE: Leonard, Penny, Raj (I don’t think it would be Howard and Bernedette given Melissa is occupied by Night Court) I like the idea of Leonard’s early life. Or if they can get Johnny and Kaley involved, do a sequel, raising their child.
Maybe but you and I are just making guesses. Story just says “derived from” which means either of us could be right.
This feels pretty unnecessary. Especially as HBOMax has been rather brutal with their slashings this past year.
No just NOOOOOOO NONE OF IT MAKES ANY SENSE
What about focusing on the children of the original series? We know that Howard and Bernadette have two, Leonard and Penny have one, and Amy and Sheldon have at least one (Leonard) – although I think they Sheldon referred to “children” in one of the voiceovers. This way, the original cast members could appear as guest stars. Maybe Howard’s kids grew up to be geniuses, while Amy & Sheldon’s were merely “smart.” I’d watch it.
* Focusing on the children either in teenage years or as adults and dealing with their parents.
I’d be leery of that going the way of THAT 90’S SHOW. Paper-thin kid characters stringing the audience along between OG cameos.
I doubt the earlier actors would be involved except in cameos, given how busy many them have become on other projects. I think a whole new story line would be interesting to see, especially since things have changed since “TBBT” began. (For example, “nerd culture” is much more mainstream. And viewers are more attuned to things that the original series, while funny, had problems with in retrospect — such as the slightly icky sexual politics, or the slightly creepy depiction of “ethnic” characters.) It helps that a streaming season will probably only consist of 10 episodes, as opposed to the 23 or so the writers had to fill up during the network run.
Stuart’s comic bookstore. Just about everyone could drop by.
Now that is what I’d love the most from a Big Bang offshoot. Stuart and Denise having wacky adventures in their comic book store work lives and their lives together as a romantic couple. Stuart deserves way more and way better than what he was dealt in the original, and this spin-off can do it.
Stuart, Denise the comic book store would be perfect. Throw some Kripke in!
I think Sheldon’s brother & girlfriend
from “Young Sheldon” would be a great
off shoot from that cast. I can’t see any of “Big Bang’s” cast coming back for an
offshoot because it would be too expensive and they have moved on in their careers.
They could do as Jim does. Be the narrative of the show. And it goes back in time. Yeah, I suspect it does have to be a prequel. Maybe Leonard’s early life. It’s been several years since the end of the show, so to do a sequel now, past time. Although any child of Leonard and Penny has, is older and in school. So, it might be interesting. Able to use Christine Baranski in some way.
Leonard, Amy, Bernadette and maybe even some Black people, a couple of Hispanic people, some LGBTQIA folks. That would be nice. And even Raj if they could figure out how to properly use Kunal’s amazing acting skills.
I am hoping this is a continuation and not a prequel. It could center on the children of the main characters, but my wish is that it stars Raj and his journey to find his soulmate. He really got shafted in TBBT, but a search for love would make for good comedy if written well and could have all kinds of callbacks to the romcoms that Raj loves so much. I have a theory that Raj ultimately ends up with Paige form Young Sheldon. It would explain why Paige is such a focus of future Sheldon’s childhood story. She wasn’t even mentioned on TBBT so she didn’t seem important to Sheldon at the time. If she ends up being Raj’s soulmate that would explain why she is a bigger presence in future Sheldon’s memories. It would also tie all TBBT universes together. Plus if this were a Raj centric spin off set in modern times we could get updates on the characters we love so much through cameos and dialogue, more so than we get on Young Sheldon.
All of them except Raj.
The most surprising thing is that it will be on HBO Max given that even though the show is made by WBTV, Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon are currently CBS/Paramount shows.
WB shows /movies are hbomax .CBS dosent own it.
Both Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon originally aired on the CBS television network, but they were produced by Warner Brothers Television Studios.
It looks like CBS have the syndication rights but HBO Max have the streaming rights
Possibly in your area. How syndication works is that whomever wants to buy the show, can buy it (almost always one station per market). For example, in my television market (Milwaukee-Racine), it’s on an independent station, WMLW.
No thanks. Rather HBO gave us a show about Sue Heck from The Middle or bring back The Kids Are Alright series. There are a lot of talented actors & actresses who would love to be in a new show.
Everybody EXCEPT Sheldon!
It couldn’t be any of the other 3 characters’ childhoods. Howard and Leonard had bad childhoods, and does anyone want to see Raj’s childhood in India?
The Young Sheldon series should be cancelled, and teenager Sheldon moves on to the upcoming Big Bang Theory.
I would love to see Leonard and Penny raising their child. Would be cool to have Sheldon & Amy have a child too!!
Looking forward to this!!! Sheldon is a great show, will watch anything in this universe.
I’d love a series of where the couples..and raj..ended up..or at least a movie
All of them but I’ll take what I can get love that show
hands down leonard and penny raising their child/children. leonard achieving professional success (nobel) and penny perhaps becoming a success in the pharma business or returning to acting and having phenomenal success there.
I’d be interested in seeing a prequel show based on Raj. Seeing his upbringing in India and seeing how he gets to America and where is fear of talking to women comes from.