While Amy's away, Sheldon will... stray?!
While Amy's away, Sheldon will… stray?!
That’s the thought on all our minds as we enter tonight's season ten finale of The Big Bang Theory, so ET called up executive producer Steve Molaro to get the inside scoop on the series' latest relationship experiment.
"The week before the finale, Amy went away for an extended period of time to do some research at Princeton, and we saw this as an opportunity to really see Sheldon living on his own for the first time," the showrunner spilled. "He's in an apartment, by himself, with his girlfriend far away, so just as a character study, we're going to see how Sheldon does with all of that."
Molaro confessed that he and the rest of the Big Bang writers wanted to come up with something that they've never done on the show before. "One of the things that came up that we thought might be interesting was, while his girlfriend is away, what if if another woman came into play? And that's exactly what happens in our finale," he said.
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True Big Bang fans will be surprised to see that the "other woman" vying for Sheldon's heart is actually a familiar face! Remember Ramona Nowitzki? (We don’t blame you if you don’t! She only appeared for one episode way back in season two.)
Ramona was a grad student who was a huge fan of Sheldon's work -- and an even bigger fan of Sheldon himself. But when Ramona asked if Sheldon would share credit with her for his latest theorem discovery, their friendship quickly evaporated.
"When we started talking about this and we were going to have a woman come lurking around Sheldon while Amy was away, the next obvious thought was, 'Well, who would that be?' And before we invented someone new, we remembered that there was that grad student and it makes sense that Ramona could come back," Molaro explained.
"So we quickly gave [actress] Riki [Lindhome] a call and she was available and we were thrilled, so we just ran with it," he continued. "[Ramona] is a doctor now and she didn’t stop admiring Sheldon."
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With a new/old girl lurking in Amy's territory, Molaro promised that our favorite beauties and geeks will throw themselves (literally!) between Sheldon and Ramona's rekindled friendship. "I think the gang rallies to help protect Sheldon and Amy in the most adorable way," he tease.
"One of the charming things about Big Bang Theory is this group really functions as a family," Molaro noted. "They might give each other a hard time and goof on each other, but at the end of the day, they are absolutely there for each other. It's really heartwarming to watch all of them step up to help protect Sheldon and Amy while she's gone."
Check back to ETonline immediately after tonight's episode for exclusive scoop on the most shocking moment of the night! (Trust us – your jaws are going to be on the floor.)
The Big Bang Theory's season 10 finale airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT.