Kaley Cuoco has taken her career to a new level with her award-winning performance on HBO Max’s ‘The Flight Attendant’. However, the careers of her TBBT co-stars Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki have gone in the totally opposite direction. Let’s take a look at what Cuoco did right and the rest didn’t.
Highlights —
- Kaley Cuoco’s next step after ‘The Big Bang Theory’
- What are Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki up to now?
Kaley Cuoco gained fame through her role as Penny in the American comedy sitcom ‘The Big Bang Theory’. The show ran for 12 seasons on CBS, becoming one of the most successful sitcoms in modern history.
Kaley Cuoco’s next step after ‘The Big Bang Theory’
Jim Parsons’ decision to leave the incredibly successful show, ‘The Big Bang Theory’, caught the cast and the fans by surprise. With him exiting production, the whole cast agreed that the best option was for the show to pull its curtains after season 12. Parson’s character, Sheldon Cooper, was the protagonist (arguably). It wouldn’t have made sense to have ‘The Big Bang Theory’ without him.
This decision left all members of the cast contemplating their career and thinking of its next step. The global reach of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ brought recognition and fame for all its cast members. This also led to them having a secure financial status.
In 2015, the TBBT cast, comprising Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Kunal Nayyar, and Simon Helberg, negotiated their salaries with the network and ended up making $1 million per episode. In 2017, Jim Parsons became the best-paid actor on television, with Kaley Cuoco coming second on the women’s list. It is unlikely that this salary would be surpassed by the projects they undertake in the future.
In an interview she gave to “Variety”, Cuoco said that ‘The Big Bang Theory’ was the reason her life changed and that she and Johnny Galecki did not know how to react when the show was over. She said, “We looked at each other and we were like, ‘What the hell just happened? Should we go out to dinner? Should we cheers?’ We didn’t quite know what to do”.
Besides the surprise, Cuoco expressed her gratitude towards the show.
“It was a blessing, I was able to take care of a lot of things in my life and my family, and I will forever be grateful for that.”
Money was just one of the many concerns that the cast had about the future. There was also the question of finding projects as big as TBBT.
What are Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki up to now?
Cuoco said that she was thinking about her future but things kept getting good for her. After ‘The Big Bang Theory’, she starred on HBO Max’s comedy-drama series ‘The Flight Attendant‘, which led her to a Golden Globe nomination for Best Television Actress in the musical/comedy series category. Cuoco lost to Catherine O’Hara who won the award for her role in ‘Schitt’s Creek’ as Moira Rose. But this was a sign that her career was on the right path.
Different from how things were working out for Cuoco, Jim Parsons’ and Johnny Galecki’s next projects did not get close to what ‘The Big Bang Theory’ was. Jim Parsons was in the movie ‘The Boys in the Band’ and the mini-series ‘Hollywood’. Both projects were unable to amass any sort of fan base. On the other hand, Johnny Galecki did not have a lot of presence on television. He appeared on ‘Roseanne’ and its spin-off series, ‘The Conners’, and in the movie ‘A Dog’s Journey’.
The end of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ led to an unexpected turn in the career of Kaley Cuoco. She started her show on HBO and is now recognized as one of the most important actresses on television. She has achieved much more than what she expected from her career after ‘The Big Bang Theory’. However, the two other main actors are still to realize their future aspirations.
Do you think Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki will find projects as big as ‘The Big Bang Theory’? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
