Jim Parsons on Sheldon and the show

As The Big Bang Theory cast begin work on episode 201, Jim Parsons talked to 'Variety' about his incredible luck in securing such a lengthy run on a TV show. Perhaps Jim has an eye on the door? he certainly has been contemplating the end of Big Bang.

“Yeah, I think about the end. I think that I can’t work under the umbrella of ‘Things are winding up around here,’ because I think it’ll be a while before I understand when the actual end of this glorious tunnel is. But as far as looking at life realistically and my own age and places in life and things like that, yeah, my mind flips there sometimes.” He said, “I think I would be afraid to go down that road if I felt anxious about it – like, ‘Oh God, let’s just wrap this up. I’m ready to – I don’t even know what – move on or whatever.’ But I don’t feel that way about it. And yet there is another half of me that [thinks] I’m just young enough to feel really excited about whatever happens after.”

Jim is in no hurry to leave the show and seem happy to let the series play out. “…the stories are still so enjoyable to be a part of and the writers are still so enthusiastic about character and plot points – if that just continues on through the end, I predict I will feel really good about wherever we wrap it up…”

Asked what he enjoys most about playing Sheldon, Jim says. “…one of my very favorite things about this character is his sort of lack of sentimentality. I don’t mean to sound unromantic or unsympathetic, but I cannot stand sentimentality, and I feel very lucky to be playing a character that, nine times out of 10, when something sentimental is happening in a script, I get to be the one to burst that bubble. And that gives me such great pleasure, I cannot tell you.”

Now this is the Sheldon we here at HQ grew to adore. He continues. “And I guess in a general way it relates to the thing that I loved about him from the moment I read the pilot, and for nine years now, which is just enough level of cluelessness to get away with saying some of the most outlandish and inappropriate things. For my money, one of my favorite types of humor is people not understanding the situation and plunging forward in it. And as an actor it is just really fun to get to do that, to get to say inappropriate things and, frankly, to have a character who comes by it honestly, who’s not trying to be mean.”