The Big Bang Theory series finale scripts arrive to the cast

The final stages of waiting for The Big Bang Theory series finale to arrive on CBS are just about here — and they start with the reading of the script.

In a new post on Instagram, series star Kaley Cuoco revealed that she and the other cast members have now had a chance to comb through all of the moments in the final episode, which is filming early next week. As you would imagine, there are a lot of emotional reactions to it for many reasons – it’s not just about the end of an era with this series coming to a close, but for these actors they have all been working together for over a decade! Throw away a lot of the cynicism about this being a job or the enormous cast salaries and the like and remember that this is one of the most influential sitcoms that many of these people have ever done. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience with close friends and knowing that you won’t be working with these people anymore has to be difficult to face.

Reading the final script is a part of the process of saying goodbye, while filming it is another part of it. From there, it’s the little things like walking off the soundstage for the first time and driving away from the studio lot. Maybe you will be there again for other things, but you’re not going to be there for this.

Then, there is the actual viewing of the finale on CBS in mid-May, where everyone is going to have a chance to commemorate the end of the road together. That’s where you will hopefully see an episode that is stuffed full of happiness and hope for these characters, as we have a chance to witness all of them try to move forward to whatever the next phase of their lives is going to be. Maybe it’s an enormous career achievement, or maybe it is a dramatic personal change that causes them to think about that phase of their life a little bit differently. No matter, it is an ending and we can’t just assume that more is ever going to be coming just because there is that rampant habit for people to want to revive things that had at one point a successful run. If there are discussions about a spin-off coming up, it’s not for the upcoming fall season and it may or may not have the same magic that this show did. We have long been vying for a Raj and Stuart spin off but we suspect that we are just yelling this idea into a void.

For now, just prepare for intermittent waterworks the next few weeks. Maybe it will be for the cast, maybe it will be for you, or maybe it will be for a loved one. No matter, we are at that point now where we have to wave goodbye to one of the last of the great sitcom titans that we’ve had on the air.