Why Simon Helberg Was Hesitant To Audition For The Big Bang Theory

It’s hard to imagine, at this point, that anybody but Simon Helberg could have played Howard Wolowitz on “The Big Bang Theory.” As one of the show’s original five cast members alongside Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, and Kunal Nayyar, Helberg helped define Chuck Lorre’s hit sitcom … but not only was he not the first choice for Howard, but he almost passed on the role because he was on a show written and created by Aaron Sorkin, which ultimately failed. (Don’t worry; it all worked out for everybody in the end.)

In a slideshow for The Hollywood Reporter chronicling the audition stories from “The Big Bang Theory,” Helberg once admitted he almost skipped out on his audition to play Howard Wolowitz entirely. “I remember almost not going in because I was working on ‘Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip’ and it was the beginning of pilot season,” Helberg explained, referring to Sorkin’s 2006 series about a late night sketch comedy show (which was canceled after a single season). 

“I was working with a great group of people and loved this pilot,” Helberg continued. “I read ‘Big Bang’ the year before — they shot it twice — and read it the first year. I thought, ‘Why are they doing this again?'” (Helberg, in this instance, is referring to the unaired pilot of “The Big Bang Theory” that failed to impress studio executives.) “There was a new character and it was great but I was on ‘Studio 60’ and my agents had to talk me into going,” he went on, recalling that he auditioned for Lorre and the show’s co-creator Bill Prady. “I remember Chuck and Bill laughing a lot — and the look Chuck gave me,” Helberg said. “He can have a look in his eyes that you can’t really read him but he was smiling. I thought some wheels were turning. I knew he liked what I did and I’ll never forget hearing that laugh. It’s still the highlight of my day when I hear that laugh.”

Something important to note here is that Kevin Sussman, who went on to play comic book store owner Stuart Bloom on “The Big Bang Theory,” was the first choice to play Howard Wolowitz … but he was committed to the ABC series “Ugly Betty” at the time, preventing him from joining the series at its inception. After going back to the drawing board for Howard’s casting, Bill Prady told Jessica Radloff in her 2022 book “The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series” that he and his fellow creatives loved Simon Helberg right away. “Simon’s audition was wonderful,” Prady explained. “He was a very different kind of Wolowitz. The way in which Kevin has a flustered quality, Simon has an intensity to him, and it was a very different concept, but it worked great.”

So, what did Helberg think? He was pretty torn! “I had gotten a recurring role on ‘Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,’ which had a lot of anticipated acclaim because it was from Aaron Sorkin. But ultimately when it came out of the gate, it didn’t do quite as well as everybody hoped,” Helberg told Radloff, remembering that he felt like the role of Howard was a little too familiar when all was said and done. “Regardless, when I got the audition for ‘Big Bang,’ I had done so many pilots, had so many failed nerd characters under my belt, and I was having a great time on ‘Studio 60,’ that I said, ‘I don’t really want to play more nerds.’ But my agents convinced me to go in for an audition, which went great, and I actually really enjoyed it.”

Then, Helberg was asked to test for “The Big Bang Theory,” which is a more serious commitment as opposed to an audition. “But when they asked me to test for it, I said no, because once you test for something, you’re committed,” Helberg recalled. “I liked the material and knew I could do a good job, but I wanted to stay on ‘Studio 60.'”

The creative team behind “The Big Bang Theory” knew that Simon Helberg had a tough choice to make, but they were understanding about it. “If Simon took ‘Big Bang,’ he’d be giving ‘Studio 60’ up even though he was a recurring cast member at the time,” Bill Prady noted in Jessica Radloff’s oral history. “It wasn’t that he couldn’t get out of it, but when you’ve got a job recurring on an Aaron Sorkin show, do you give that up?”

“At that point, Chuck had made calls to my agent, and through a series of different conversations, I ultimately was like, I think I gotta go test for this,” Helberg admitted in Radloff’s book, saying he mostly just wanted the Hollywood power players in his vicinity to duke it out for him. “But I just wanted Aaron Sorkin and Chuck to have a boxing match over me. Eventually, I tested for Wolowitz.”

“Ultimately I did get the role, and then I wrote an email to Aaron where I asked him for time off from ‘Studio 60’ to film the pilot for ‘Big Bang,'” Helberg continued. “I assured him that given the sheer number of pilots I had done that didn’t get picked up, the odds weren’t that likely, but if it did, I would have to leave his show.” Helberg was hoping that Sorkin would perhaps offer him a regular role on “Studio 60.” He didn’t, and it wouldn’t have mattered anyway because, again, that show ended up getting canceled after a single season, so it’s definitely for the best that Helberg said yes to Howard.

“It’s strange how things worked out,” Chuck Lorre mused. “We never would have gotten to Simon had ABC not blocked Kevin. And listen, if ‘Studio 60’ had continued, it would have been a no brainer. Simon would have correctly wanted to tie his future to Aaron Sorkin, and who wouldn’t?” Again, it’s safe to say Helberg got a pretty good deal at the end of the day. 

“The Big Bang Theory” is streaming on Max now. The single season of “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” is available to rent or buy on most major streaming platforms.