‘Big Bang Theory’ cast dishes on finale and shares show secrets with Colbert

“The Big Bang Theory” cast knows series finales can’t make everyone happy, but the seven principal cast members said that they’re content with the heartfelt send-offs they got on Thursday.

The geeky CBS sitcom took its final bow Thursday night after 12 years and 279 episodes, making it the longest-running multi-camera comedy in TV history.

As part of the farewell, stars Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Kunal Nayyar, Simon Helberg, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch stopped by “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” for an extended group interview.

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They covered topics such as first impressions of their costars, Penny’s elusive last name, which cast members had sex in their dressing rooms (maybe Galecki), favorite guest stars (Judd Hirsch, Mark Hamill and Bob Newhart) and who asked them to sign their “Big Bang Theory” yearbooks.

However, they did not cover the specifics of the finale, which addressed long-running questions and tied up loose ends including — spoilers ahead — a Nobel prize for Sheldon (Parsons) and Amy (Bialik), a secret pregnancy for Penny (Cuoco) and Leonard (Galecki), finally seeing Howard (Helberg) and Bernadette’s (Rauch) children onscreen and Raj (Nayyar) meeting Sarah Michelle Gellar, the show’s final guest star.

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Overall, the actors said they were pleased with their characters’ goodbyes, especially in an era of peak TV and viral audience reactions.

“Absolutely,” Galecki said.

“I was worried one of us was going to be killed off in the finale. So, being the Indian guy, I was really happy I made it,” Nayyar told Colbert.

“Or one of you would go insane and burn the entire city,” Colbert quipped, referencing last weekend’s penultimate episode of “Game of Thrones.”

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“We had a lot of anxieties about how this was going to go,” Cuoco said. “Us as actors, the writers — I mean, there’s a lot of pressure on how to end this. Fans wanted to know what was going to happen, so it was tough, and I think that they did it brilliantly.”

“I think they did, too,” Parsons added. “We were talking to the writers a lot as we were getting ready and one of them was like, ‘we’re nervous.’”

“So I said, well, you can’t get it wrong because it’s yours,” Parsons continued. “You’ve been writing it all this time. … Look at it this way, you can’t get it right. It’s a series finale. Someone’s going to hate it. They’re all divisive one way or the other. I can’t imagine [this one] being that divisive. But we’ll find out tomorrow. Check your Insta feed.”

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