Kunal Nayyar Knows Exactly What Happens To The Big Bang Theory Characters After The Finale

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

In the spring of 2019, "The Big Bang Theory" came to a close after twelve seasons and as many years ... so where did all of the characters end up? In brief, Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) and his wife Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik) share a Nobel Prize for their work in super-asymmetry, Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) and his wife Bernadette Rostenkowski (Melissa Rauch) are married with two children, and Leonard and Penny Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco) are married and expecting a baby. Then there's Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar), who, despite the fact that he's always looking for love, ends up alone.

In a piece in The Hollywood Reporter after the series finale of "The Big Bang Theory" — titled "The Stockholm Syndrome" as a nod to the city that's home to the Nobel ceremony — all of the lead performers were asked about the show's ending, and Nayyar said that he thinks Raj and all the rest of the characters just ... keep living happily. "The idea is that the show continues," Nayyar shared. "We, as the audience, finally say goodbye to the guys, but the guys wake up the next morning and they go to work and they get Chinese food on Monday and Raj still probably stumbles. I think it's a beautiful, beautiful way to end."

This is, of course, a beautiful vision, but I'm going to take issue with the fact that Raj is simply ... expected to "stumble," as Nayyar put it. Everybody but Raj, a guy who genuinely and effusively loves love, gets a neatly packaged happy ending, and while I might be making some assumptions here, I figure that by "stumble," Nayyar means Raj will keep looking for love and coming up short. Raj's ending is one of the biggest issues in the otherwise solid series finale of "The Big Bang Theory," and according to a book about the series, it was extremely purposeful (which, in case you didn't get my meaning, makes it that much worse).

The particularly frustrating thing here is that, towards the end of "The Big Bang Theory," Raj does have a love interest — Anu, played by Rati Gupta. Anu and Raj enter into an arranged relationship engineered by both of their parents, but they're actually really good together; when Anu moves to London for work, Raj very nearly goes with her before electing to say in Los Angeles (literally having a romantic comedy moment at the airport with Howard, his best friend, instead of Anu). The breakup between the two is very abrupt, and in the show's conclusion, Raj "attends" the Nobel ceremony with Sarah Michelle Gellar — who, playing herself, sternly tells Raj they are not on a date — and he stays single through the end of the finale.

In Jessica Radloff's 2022 book "The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series," Warner Bros. executive Peter Roth, who worked closely with the series' creative team, lamented Raj's fate. "I wish that Raj found the woman of his dreams," Roth admitted. "He's the only one that didn't at the end of the show."

As for Kunal Nayyar, he took an extremely positive approach to the whole thing (you might notice that's sort of his thing, so to speak). "I thought it was very astute that the one person who wanted love so badly realizes maybe he needs to love himself first," Nayyar mused. "It doesn't have to come through someone else, and that's a very lovely way to end a character's storyline. He grew so much those last few seasons as a character, and you saw him become less and less dependent on all the things he thought he needed, which is very beautiful."

Executive producer and writer Steve Molaro agreed with Nayyar, saying that the show "started as five single people" and he actually likes the idea that not everyone follows the exact same path. "And so rather than saying, 'Oh, look, everybody did what they were supposed to do and got married and found themselves in a relationship,' I was like, 'Well, that's not exactly how it has to end. That's not necessarily the best way,'" Molaro concluded. I'm not completely disagreeing with the guy; single people matter too. With that said, Raj's ending just feels ... unfinished, which might be why Molaro and other producers told Radloff that they think he still has romance in his "future."

Regarding the Anu of it all, Steve Holland, another executive producer and writer on the series, said this: "We didn't have a grand plan, and it wasn't like Raj was not going to find anybody." (That's literally exactly what happened, but okay.) Holland went on to say that the show originally intended for Raj and Anu to get married right at the very end of the show. "We had talked about that relationship being a love story out of order where they got engaged, and then they got to know each other," Holland continued. "Nothing against Rati Gupta, who was terrific as Anu, but it never quite clicked in the way that we wanted it to, and we never felt like we had to write to an ending."

"Plus, everyone doesn't have to be with somebody," Holland then concluded, saying he does believe Raj's romantic story isn't fully "over" (even though the show is, well, very over). "Raj is a romantic, and I think he ends up with somebody eventually, but the thought of just doing it to make a happy ending for all the characters felt false."

"There's a sad irony to the fact that that he's the one who remained on his own through to the end when arguably his character wanted love the most," Steve Molaro added. "Maybe he wanted it so much it affected his pursuit of it and made it more difficult, but I don't think there's any shame in being single. Doing it this way felt more realistic and a nicer way to end it."

I get the intention behind that — and even sort of support it — but at the end of the day, this is a sitcom. Give Raj a big wedding and a happy ending, Shakespeare-style! He shouldn't have to "stumble" while he keeps eating Chinese food with his friends! Based on everything he had to say about the finale, it seems like Kunal Nayyar is fine with Raj's ending, so I'm happy for him ... but if anything, it's bittersweet at best.