Kaley Cuoco And ‘BBT’ Cast Made Huge Sacrifice For Mayim Bialik And Melissa Rauch To Get Raises

With discussions underway for potentially two more seasons of The Big Bang Theory, huge news has […]

June 30, 2017, 4:45pm

With discussions underway for potentially two more seasons of The Big Bang Theory, huge news has developed regarding the contract negotiations with the cast.

The original five stars of the CBS series – Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Kunal Nayyar, and Simon Helberg – were making $1 million per episode. However, all five of them have expressed their willingness to take pay cuts in order to give Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch bigger deals.

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Bialik and Rauch, who portray Amy Farrah Fowler and Bernadette Wolowitz respectively, were making $200k per episode. The original cast is offering to take a $100k per episode pay cut in order to give Bialik and Rauch $450k each per episode, according to Variety.

The original stars have agreed to pay cut only on the condition that the money is given to their co-stars. At the moment, no word whether Bialik and Rauch will hold out for even more lucrative contracts for what will likely be the final two seasons of the comedy series.

In the event that the cast agrees to appear in two additional seasons, The Big Bang Theory will be marching on into its 11th and 12th seasons.

Back in January CBS president, Glenn Geller, commented on contract discussions while at the Television Critics Association press tour.

“We are in negotiations, but it is definitely business as usual,” Geller said. “We are guardedly optimistic that we will make a deal.”

Several members of the cast have been outspoken about wanting the show to continue. Back in June, Kunal Nayyar said on This Morning: “All of us on the show realize how lucky we are on the show and we treasure it. We’re not sure if there will be another show like this, we know it is special.”

During a recent interview on Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist on NBC, Jim Parsons dished on whether the gang was down to reprise their roles for more seasons of BBT. The 43-year-old actor, who portrays eccentric genius Sheldon Cooper, was asked by the host if he could “shed any light” on whether there will be more episodes of the show in the years to come.

“Unofficial light, but I know everybody wants to,” Parsons said. “Everybody wants to, so I would be shocked if that didn’t happen. I really would be.”

Are you surprised that Kaley Cuoco and the other lead actors are willing to take a pay cut in order to let Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch get a raise?

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[H/T Daily Mail, Variety]