Concerns have grown over the past few days that the announcement of a Big Bang Theory spin-off, titled Sheldon, could mean the sounding of the death toll for the main show. However, two new series of the geek ensemble show have been confirmed, with Sheldon Cooper actor Jim Parsons and the rest of the crew returning to CBS.
Fans scared by new show announcement
The rumours of a prequel spin-off were confirmed last week. Jim Parsons will be narrating the show, which centres around a young sheldon as he struggles through school as a child prodigy. Iain Armitage, of Big Little Lies, is set to play the titular character as a 12-year-old.
It has also been reported that Laurie Metcalfe, who plays Sheldon’s devoutly religious mother, Mary Cooper, will be replaced by Zoe Perry. Other actors to have been cast in roles include Lance Barber, Raegan Revord, and Montana Jordan.
The spin-off has been ordered as a straight-to-series show, which means that there will not be a pilot episode. The exact number of episodes in the first series has yet to be announced, however.
Chuck Lorre and Steve Molaro, who are the brains behind The Big Bang Theory, came up with the idea for the show, which has been described as similar to Malcolm In The Middle in style.
The good news is no cancellation!
Fans were concerned that the show, which had not been renewed beyond the current series, would not be renewed.
However, it was today announced that the highly popular show has been renewed by CBS for series 11 and series 12.
There had been some disputes over pay, as the newest members of the cast, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch, were on lower earnings than the other five cast members. The two reportedly earned $200,000 dollars an episode.
While this certainly isn’t small change, it is a far cry from the $1,000,000 an episode that the rest of the cast earned. It was earlier reported that the five higher paid stars offered to take a pay cut, in order that the money could be used to bring Bialik and Rauch’s salaries in line with their colleagues.
According to the reports, Bialik and Bauch have yet to pen deals, but the rest of the cast have signed on for the new series.
