For several years, it seemed like everyone on the internet thought The Big Bang Theory was a bad TV show. While people online discussed TBBT traumatizing a former teen star, Bert Kreischer insulted the show to Kaley Cuoco’s face, and Joe Rogan called the show out. However, even though Joe told Macaulay Culkin he was lucky he didn’t star in The Big Bang Theory, the show was a mammoth success and it has a loyal fan following.
While fans tend to know Jim Parsons adored one of the show’s guest stars and Craig Ferguson had an unofficial cameo, some facts about the show fly under the radar. A perfect example of that is many fans don’t realize that a The Big Bang Theory star was fired, rehired, and then paid a fortune to headline the show.
Kunal Nayyar Was Fired And Rehired From The Big Bang Theory Before The Show Began Filming
Since The Big Bang Theory is one of the most successful sitcoms of all-time, it can be hard to imagine it with different actors involved. Despite that, the fact is that one of The Big Bang Theory’s stars almost missed out being part of the show.
When The Big Bang Theory’s premiered, Kunal Nayyar’s portrayal of Rajesh “Raj” Koothrappali was a big part of the show. However, most The Big Bang Theory fans don’t know that Kunal was fired from the show soon after he was first cast.
In October 2022, Screen Rant published an article that revealed the stunning story of Kunal getting fired. That article quoted from the book “The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series” that was written by Jessica Radloff.
Screen Rant Listed The Big Bang Theory’s Characters’ Age Ranges | |
|---|---|
Character | TBBT Age Range |
Sheldon Cooper | 27-39 |
Leonard Hofstadter | 27-38 |
Penny | 21-33 |
Rajesh Koothrappali | 25-37 |
Howard Wolowitz | 25-37 |
Stuart Bloom | 34-45 |
Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz | 23-33 |
Amy Farrah Fowler | 30-39 |
As a part of putting together her book which chronicles the production of The Big Bang Theory, Jessica interviewed the key figures behind the show. One of those people told Jessica about the firing of Kunal.
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Ever since The Big Bang Theory became a massive hit, fans have believed that the show’s co-creator, Chuck Lorre, was the person in charge of the show. While Chuck and his co-creator Bill Prady executive produced The Big Bang Theory throughout the show’s run, that doesn’t mean they were solely in charge.
In February 2021, The Big Bang Theory’s co-creator appeared on the “At Home with the Creative Coalition” podcast. During that appearance, Bill Prady revealed that Chuck Lorre initially was against the casting of Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper. “We saw — oh God, I don’t know, 100 people? And when Jim Parsons came in, he was Sheldon on a level — you know, there were people who came in and you went, ‘Okay, well, he’s kind of okay,’ ‘Oh, he’s pretty good,’ ‘Maybe he’s the guy.’ And Jim came in and he was just — from that audition, he was the Sheldon that you saw on television. He created that character at that audition. And he left the room and I turned and I went, ‘That’s the guy! That’s the guy! That’s the guy!’ And Chuck turned and he said, ‘Nah, he’s gonna break your heart. He’ll never give you that performance again.'”
However, like most people, Chuck had bosses at CBS throughout his time working on The Big Bang Theory. While talking to Jessica for the book, Chuck revealed how he discovered that a CBS executive fired Kunal from The Big Bang Theory.
“When I landed in New York for the upfronts, I was informed that Kunal wasn’t there. I was like, “What do you mean he isn’t here? Why isn’t he here?” Apparently while I was flying across the country, a CBS executive determined—unilaterally—that Kunal wasn’t right for the role and we would recast that part.”
Of course, it should go without saying that Kunal wound up starring in The Big Bang Theory even though he’d been fired from the show. That begs an obvious question. How did Kunal get rehired to star in The Big Bang Theory?
According to IMDb, Kunal Nayyar had very little onscreen experience before he was cast as one of The Big Bang Theory’s stars. Prior to that, Kunal had appeared in a video called S.C.I.E.N.C.E. and he may have filmed an episode of NCIS before landing the role that made him famous.
Fortunately for The Big Bang Theory’s star, Chuck told Jessica that he reacted to Kunal being fired with great anger.
Well, I did not respond well. I was furious.
Interestingly enough, Chuck went on to take responsibility for what led to Kunal being fired.
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When Kunal was fired from The Big Bang Theory, he’d already appeared in the show’s pilot. While talking to Jessica for the book, Chuck stated that Kunal had been fired because of how he came across during the pilot.
However, Chuck stated that it wasn’t Kunal’s fault that his appearance in the pilot didn’t impress the CBS executive. Instead, Chuck stated that it was because the show’s writers hadn’t figured out Kunal’s character yet.
“They made this decision without consulting me. Plus, if you go back and watch the pilot, we didn’t really give him much of a chance in that episode. It wasn’t because Kunal didn’t deliver, it was because we still hadn’t quite landed on his character.”
Fortunately for Kunal, Chuck told Jessica that he went to bat for the fired actor. It was because of Chuick fighting for Kunal that he was quickly rehired. Chuck also told Jessica for the book that he thought it was unfair that Kunal had been fired to begin with.
“I called the execs at CBS and said, “You can’t fire him. I cast him, I believe in him, I’ll take responsibility for this decision. He’s my guy.” If I’m going to fail, I’m going to fail on my own choices. I’m not going to fail on someone else’s choices. I wasn’t about to recast that part because someone else made a decision. It seemed so unfair to cut the actor from the series based on what—the two lines where he whispered to Wolowitz?”
Kunal Nayyar Was Paid Millions To Star In The Big Bang Theory
Considering that Kunal Nayyar was once fired from The Big Bang Theory, it is amazing to think about how important he became to the show. More than that, it is staggering that Kunal went from being fired to being paid millions for the same show.
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In January 2025, Screen Rant published an article about how much money the cast of The Big Bang Theory was paid. That article states that during the first season of The Big Bang Theory, Kunal was paid $45,000 per episode. Since the first season featured 17 episodes, that means that Kunal’s salary would have been $765,000.
While that is a lot of money, it pales in comparison to what Kunal would later get paid for the show.
In September 2017, Forbes reported that Kunal was being paid $1 million per episode of The Big Bang Theory. That meant that for Season 10 of the show alone, Kunal was paid $24 million.
Considering that Kunal was once fired, it is incredible that he went on to be paid tens of millions for The Big Bang Theory.
The Big Bang Theory
- Release Date
-
2007 – 2019-00-00
- Network
-
CBS
- Showrunner
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Mark Cendrowski
- Directors
-
Mark Cendrowski
- Writers
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Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady
