Chuck Lorre is developing a new comedy series in the Big Bang Theory universe for Max, formerly known as HBO Max. Plot details are still under wraps, as the project is in development, but Lorre will executive-produce it.
The untitled comedy would mark the second series spinning off from Big Bang Theory, following CBS’ prequel series Young Sheldon. That coming-of-age sitcom follows 9-year-old Sheldon Cooper (originated by Jim Parsons and played by Iain Armitage) as he grows up in East Texas and attends school as a gifted young boy.
The prequel sitcom is currently in its sixth season and also stars Lance Barber, Zoe Perry, Annie Potts, and Montana Jordan.
Lorre and Bill Prady created The Big Bang Theory, which ran for 12 seasons, from 2007-2019. The hit sitcom followed physicist best friends and roommates Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon (Parsons), who school everyone they know on quantum physics, but know little about life outside the laboratory. When aspiring actress and waitress Penny (Kaley Cuoco) moves across the hall, they forge an unexpected friendship.
Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Simon Helberg, Mayim Bialik, and Melissa Rauch also starred as the trio’s core group of pals and love interests.
Chatting with EW for the show’s 15th anniversary last year, Prady said he’d love to gather the cast together again for a revival but he wasn’t quite sure how to make it happen.
“Would I like to stand on a stage someplace and watch those characters again? Yes, absolutely,” he said. “Can I imagine a way to do it? I can’t. But, personally, would l like to go to Stage 25 and see that set and those costumes and those people? Yeah, I get choked up just thinking about it. But I don’t know how we’d do that.”
However, he added, “It’s hard to imagine what you would see after the finale because I found the finale was just one of the most beautiful and satisfying episodes. The closure it brought was astonishing. It’s hard to imagine reopening the story.”
Lorre agreed: “I don’t think we left anything undone. That was as close to a perfect finale as we could have ever dreamt of doing.”
