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The Big Bang Theory has had a slew of industry giants cameo in its epic 12-season long run. Be it Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, or James Earl Jones, there have been appearances that just fit perfectly into a show made for nerds and geeks.
Raj with one of his failed romances, Lucy in The Big Bang Theory | Credit: CBSSandra Bullock, a long-time favorite of Kunal Nayyar’s Rajesh Koothrappali, was also expected to make a cameo in the show, but it was scrapped due to scheduling conflicts. However, it might have been for the best, given the amount of backlash that the character’s ending received.
The series finale would have seen Raj meet Sandra Bullock at Sheldon and Amy’s Nobel Prize ceremony
Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality || Credit: Warner BrosIn the series finale, The Stockholm Syndrome, almost all of the main cast members were given a romantic happy ending. However, Raj, as was often the case in the show, ended up with the shorter end of the stick. Despite dating a slew of women over the course of the series, the character was left hanging without even the possibility of a romance in the impeding future for the character.
However, in the finale, Raj meets Sarah Michelle Gellar, who was supposed to be Sandra Bullock instead. The latter’s fame as a rom-com icon was often the reason cited for Raj’s admiration of her, which was mentioned in multiple episodes throughout the show’s 279-episode run. The Gravity alum had to turn the offer down due to scheduling conflicts.
The ending that Raj ended up getting did not sit well with fans, but as pointed out by producer Steve Molaro, there was a strange irony in Raj’s endgame in the show after all. He said:
I’m glad we didn’t go that route. There’s a sad irony to the fact that he’s the one who remained on his own through to the end when arguably his character wanted love the most. 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.
Despite what the producer has said, whether it was Sandra Bullock or Sarah Michelle Gellar sitting next to the character in the finale, there was a large consensus among fans that the show did Raj dirty. Not only were a lot of choices made by the writers that were just not funny, but Raj as a character seemed to have gotten the short end of the stick every step of the way, despite it making no sense for his character.
Fans believe Raj got one of the worst ending in The Big Bang Theory
Kunal Nayyar as Raj Koothrappali in TBBT. || Credit: CBS.Raj Koothrapali has been one of The Big Bang Theory’s most beloved characters, but fans have been endlessly frustrated by the choices that were made for him by the writers of the show. Be it his selective mutism with women, his storyline about dating two women, his endless romantic tragedies, or his accent, which was routinely the butt of man jokes in the show, fans just did not see why Raj could not have competent relationships like the rest of the core group.
While there were some highlights of the show where Raj shined as a character, more often than not, fans were just not pleased with how the character seemed to be the butt of every other joke, and for no fault of his own. This, coupled with the horrible ending that the character received, had fans wondering why were they invested in his story in the first place, which showed no meaningful change in the life of the character.
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