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CBS
“The Big Bang Theory” is one of the most successful and widely-enjoyed network comedies to come about in the last 20 years. Hailing from the mind of mega-producer Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, it ran for 12 seasons on CBS, totaling nearly 300 episodes. It also spawned several spin-offs, most notably “Young Sheldon.” But all good things come to an end, and so did the show in 2019 when the season 12 finale aired. It’s impossible for any finale to please everyone, though, and “The Big Bang Theory” left many fans of Kunal Nayyar’s Raj feeling unsatisfied, as his love life was left hanging a bit in the end. That said, the show’s creative team had a reason for doing that.
Raj had quite a few love interests over the course of “The Big Bang Theory,” but he was single come time for the finale. So, why did the series’ creatives decide to leave Raj loveless in the end? Well, because it’s not really the end. In a 2019 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the show’s creators broke down the decision. First, Lorre laid out how Raj’s ending place in the finale came about:
“With Sarah [Michelle Gellar], it felt like a wonderful way to add some comedy to what was otherwise a very serious scene at the awards ceremony. Because of the way this finale was presented by Steve Holland, we didn’t feel like it was necessarily to have some big story closure for every character. That felt forced and somewhat unnecessary because sometimes big things don’t happen to everybody all at once unless you’re forcing it into a series finale. And that didn’t feel realistic. It didn’t feel like a comfortable way to go. So Raj’s story just remains open.”
As Lorre noted, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Sarah Michelle Gellar made an appearance in the “Big Bang Theory” finale, which helped open the door to Raj’s future. He didn’t end up with Rati Gupta’s Anu though, as that was firmed up a few episodes before the finale. That also left Raj’s romantic future on uncertain ground but, again, just because the show is over doesn’t mean the journey for these characters is over. The finale was just the point where audiences stopped following them every week.
The Big Bang Theory wanted to honor the bones of the series in the finale
CBS
Executive producer and showrunner Steve Holland added some insight to this, revealing that other ideas were considered, including Raj finding his person. Ultimately though, the series’ creatives decided that ending the show didn’t mean resolving every single plot thread, seeing as their lives were still going to go on. “The Big Bang Theory” season 12 may have ended the show, but, as Holland pointed out, Raj lived on:
“So many ideas were talked about; everything was fair game and on the board going into early this year talking about what the finale could be and Raj finding his person was certainly one of them. We just felt we didn’t need to tie up everything in a bow. Their lives were still going on. We gave him a fun and emotional closure in episode 22 with him and Howard. It felt OK to leave him still searching for love — and I believe that he ultimately will find it someday. but we didn’t feel the need to have to show it.
The episode alluded to, “The Maternal Conclusion” saw Raj at the airport tempted to move to London for Anu, but that didn’t happen. Still, Raj was one of the more likable characters on “The Big Bang Theory,” and it’s understandable that fans would want him to find love before all was said and done. Co-showrunner Steven Molaro also chimed in though, explaining how this sort of brought the show full circle in some ways:
“I think this show started with these four guys all single. To honor the bones of the series, it’s OK that somebody still hasn’t found the right person.”
Indeed, the series started with Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, and Raj as single guys. Having at least one of them remain single, in the end, honored that. Does that mean he’s going to stay single forever? Of course not, but again, not all finales need to tie every single thing up with a perfect little bow.
“The Big Bang Theory” is currently streaming on Max, or you can grab the complete series on Blu-ray via Amazon.