“Don’t want to play nerds”: When Simon Helberg revealed how he almost rejected Howard’s role in The Big Bang Theory

Simon Helberg has made Howard Wolowitz's character immortal with his iconic performance in The Big Bang Theory. The aerospace engineer won over the fans with his multidimensional personality.

Helberg earned several accolades for his stellar performance in the CBS sitcom, including a Critics' Choice Television Award. However, the actor had almost rejected the role of Wolowitz, until he had a change of heart and decided to go ahead with the show.

In a 2016 interview with HuffPost, Simon Helberg revealed he was not very keen on playing Howard Wolowitz initially, as he was already playing a nerdy guy in another comedy series, NBC’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip:

“I was doing a show called ‘Studio 60’ that was great,” Helberg said. “Great group of people, but people weren’t watching it and I hear that’s part of the equation. So I said ‘I don’t want to play nerds anymore.’”

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Simon Helberg once talked about how he initially thought of rejecting Howard’s role in The Big Bang Theory

Simon Helberg added that while he originally thought of declining the role in The Big Bang Theory as he did not want to play a nerdy character again, he eventually decided to leap and said ‘yes’ to the show:

“So [I thought] I’ll pass on the nerd show. And I just got convinced to go in and I think I made a good choice.”

Helberg played Alex Dwyer in NBC’s comedy-drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which aired only one season from September 2006 to June 2007. The show was about the behind-the-scenes functioning of a fictional sketch comedy show.

Three months after the series ended, Helberg debuted the role of Howard Wolowitz in The Big Bang Theory, and then there was no looking back. He played the character in all 12 seasons of the series.

Howard was a talented aerospace engineer who got an opportunity to go into space. At the same time, the character transformed from being a ladies' man to a committed boyfriend to Bernadette.

Helberg opened up about his character’s development over the years in a conversation with Jessica Radloff, which was featured in the author's book, The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series. The actor said:

“Howard was a little tricky to make human. There definitely was a layer of sleaze that was oozing off of him, but I also felt like he certainly was the butt of the joke at the same time. I felt like it was actually making fun of him.”

“He was an offensive and inappropriate person, so I was personally pleased that he became more of a respectable human as the series progressed, and he became more three-dimensional.”

Howard eventually became a changed man by the end of the show, which was well-appreciated by the audience. Apart from Helberg, The Big Bang Theory also starred Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter, Kaley Cuoco as Penny, Kunal Nayyar as Rajesh Koothrappali, and Melissa Rauch as Bernadette.

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All seasons of The Big Bang Theory are available to stream on Max.