Season 11 finale of CBS’s hit comedy The Big Bang Theory aired on May 10 and brought us closer to the show’s end. CBS hasn’t officially renewed the sitcom for season 13 and the cast isn’t under contract past season 12. That all pointed to the possibility that the season 12 will be the final chapter of the show. As it turns out, it might not be.
CBS Entertainment President Kelly Kahl discussed the future of The Big Bang Theory on Wednesday during network’s upfront breakfast and said that they are “hopeful” there will be more episodes after season 12.
“We are hopeful there will be more,” said Kahl. “As long as [Chuck Lorre] and his team, [Steve Molaro] and those guys think they have stories to tell, we’ll take it for as long as they want. We certainly hope to get a few more years out of it. It’s not slowing down.”
The first step for CBS to bring back The Big Bang Theory for season 13 and beyond will be negotiating new contracts for the cast. Five original members of the cast – Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, and Kunal Nayyar – are currently the highest paid actors on television, with each of them earning around $1 million per episode. Despite the high price, the network will be certainly motivated to continue with the sitcom. According to Kahl, season 11 of The Big Bang Theory had similar numbers like season 10 which averaged 18.99 million viewers.
Since season seven, The Big Bang Theory is the second highest watched TV show in the United States, trailing only behind NBC’s NFL Sunday Night Football.
