'The Big Bang Theory' Season 11 Spoilers: Steve Holland Talks About Getting Big Stars for Wedding Episode
Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) and Amy Fowler's (Mayim Bialik) highly anticipated wedding is just right around the corner, but fans have more reasons to get excited for the finale of "The Big Bang Theory" season 11.
Prior to the airing of the season's upcoming finale, showrunner Steve Holland explained why Kathy Bates will take over the role of Amy's mother.
In an interview with TVLine, the showrunner revealed that the viewers got to meet Amy's mother who was then portrayed by Annie O'Donnell in season 4 long before she became a big part of the series.
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"It was a one-off [scene] on Skype. [Annie] did a wonderful job. But when we had the chance to bring [the character] back in a role that could possibly recur [we decided to make a change]," Holland said.
He also explained that series co-creator Chuck Lorre managed to forge a special relationship with Bates after they got the chance to work together in the now-defunct "Disjointed" by Netflix. This gave them the opportunity to bring the seasoned actress in the series.
Holland also explained why Sheldon's favorite Meemaw will not be part of his special day. According to the showrunner, they were planning to include a voice message from his grandmother to be played at his wedding. However, they opted not include it in the episode due to time constraints.
"Our explanation to ourselves was that Meemaw is in her 90s and too old to travel. She had a nice voicemail message that we had written for her and that we recorded and we just didn't have time to get to it," the showrunner also said.
He also mentioned that the voice recording was done by Annie Potts instead of June Squibb since she is a huge part of the show's spinoff "Young Sheldon."
Meanwhile, Holland also told The Hollywood Reporter how they managed to get "Star Wars" star Mark Hamill to appear in the highly anticipated season 11 finale.
According to the showrunner, Hamill was the first person on their list of guest stars when they were still conceptualizing the plot for the wedding episode. He also said that there was no script yet at that time, but Hamill readily accepted the role even if he has no idea what he will do in the episode.
"He was understandably nervous about not having to commit to something, especially committing to the role he's playing without seeing a script," Holland also stated. "But he came in and talked to us for a few hours and hung out with the writers. We had a good time together, and he luckily decided to trust us and take a leap of faith. He signed on without seeing word one," he added.
Other guest stars in the much-awaited wedding episode of "The Big Bang Theory" include comedian Teller as Amy's father, and Jerry O'Connell will also reprise his role as Sheldon's brother, Georgie.
The episode will also bring back John Ross Bowie as Sheldon's frenemy Barry Kripke, Courtney Henggeler as Sheldon's twin sister Missy, Laurie Metcalf as Sheldon's mother Mary, Brian Posehn as Bert, as well as Wil Wheaton as himself.
The season 11 finale of "The Big Bang Theory" will be aired by CBS on Thursday, May 10, at 8 p.m. EDT.
