‘The Big Bang Theory’ season 8 spoilers: Howard’s family surprise

This season of “The Big Bang Theory” is quickly proving to be a very emotional one when it comes to Howard Wolowitz. Just think about everything that we have seen this particular character go through with the death of his mother.

While this character will be celebrated and remembered further on Thursday night’s new episode, sources confirm that later this season, we’ll be seeing another member of the Wolowitz clan for the first time: A half-brother. Matt Bennett of “Victorious” fame has been cast to play the role of Howard’s half-brother named Josh. You will first see him on the upcoming April 9 episode of the series, where he will (per TVLine) show up at the door of Simon Helberg’s character unannounced.

More than likely, Howard does not even know this person exists. He has never mentioned having a half-brother, and we have learned already that his father abandoned him and his mother many decades ago. In theory, it’s possible that this man went and started a new life elsewhere, and these people could see him as a very different man. Or, it’s also possible that Josh was abandoned in much of the same way, and only recently went to see if there were any other potential members of his family.

Hopefully, this will at least give the character some connection still to the past. What we are the most happy about is that through this story, we are continuing seeing the writers for this show avoiding the common sitcom trap of forcing a married couple to think about a child. They are showing that there is so much more the characters can do, and we are very happy for that.

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