This A-Lister Turned Down a Chance of Making $1 Million Per Episode on TBBT
And he didn't regret it just a bit.
When The Big Bang Theory premiered on CBS in 2007, hardly anyone could have imagined it would shortly become an international sensation. Season 1 had a very rough beginning as the show had to be rewritten and recast after the initial pilot before the first season was approved.
Nonetheless, TBBT became a hit, eventually running for twelve seasons and spawning an equally popular spin-off.
Before long, TBBT was so popular that its main cast members soon became the highest-paid TV actors in Hollywood, making $1 million per episode each at the height of the show's success. In addition, numerous big-name actors didn't hesitate to do cameos on the show, including Mark Hamill, Leonard Nimoy, and the first-ever Batman actor, Adam West. There was one particular celebrity actor who refused to appear on TBBT, even though he was offered a major role early on.
In a recent Joe Rogan Experience episode, Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin revealed that he had been approached by the TBBT producers back in the day and offered the role of one of the main characters.
Unfortunately, Mr Culkin never revealed which one. Furthermore, the TBBT team kept contacting Culkin, hoping he would eventually agree, but he kept giving them a hard pass.
'They pursued me for The Big Bang Theory,' Macauley told Joe. 'And I said no. It was kind of like, the way the pitch was, "Alright, these two astrophysicist nerds and a pretty girl lives with them. Yoinks!" That was the pitch. And I was like, "Yeah, I’m cool, thanks." And then they came back at me again, and I said, "No, no, no. Again, flattered, but no." Then they came back at me again, and even my manager was like twisting my arm.'
As it turns out, the actor felt all of the major roles on TBBT were such a poor fit for him that even the prospect of making $1 million per episode wasn’t incentive enough for him.
'I'd have hundreds of millions of dollars right now if I did that gig. At the same time, I'd be bashing my head against the wall,' Culkin shared.
It would indeed have been interesting to have seen the child star on the beloved show. But the truth is, in hindsight, we can't really imagine any other actors playing our beloved TBBT gang.
Source: YouTube.