The Biggest Moments From The Big Bang Theory Series Finale, Explained

Warning: Spoilers for the series finale of The Big Bang Theory ahead.

In The Big Bang Theory's series finale—which took place over two episodes tonight, May 16—the least shocking development was when Amy and Sheldon took home the Nobel Prize in physics for super-asymmetry. The past year has been leading up to this award, and I doubt anyone expected them to get a call saying they didn't win. And yet the moment still gave me chills—especially Amy's speech, which was a call for young girls to pursue their dreams. ("Go for it, and if anyone tells you that you can't, don't listen.") For a series that started out as a comedy about a bunch of awkward male scientists, The Big Bang Theory has become just as much about the women and their triumphs and hardships. And in the end, everyone got their moment to shine.

And there were plenty of shocking moments in the two-part finale. OK, fine, we assumed the elevator was going to be fixed. But so soon? Didn't see that coming when it did. And Penny's pregnant? Someone explain. (Side note: That's the spin-off I want to see: Penny and Leonard as parents.) Then there were real-life actors playing Howard and Bernadette's kids. And holy bazinga, Amy's makeover. She looks amazing—but for the sake of a pain-free back, don't give up those orthopedic shoes for good. And hello, Sarah Michelle Gellar! Did not expect to see you here.

While the finale tied up plenty of loose ends—Ah! So that's why Leonard always wore hoodies—there were plenty of questions I needed answers to immediately. Executive producers Steve Holland, Steve Molaro, and Bill Prady (who co-created the show with Chuck Lorre) were more than happy to explain. Settle in with some Chinese takeout and a quilted blanket, because we've got a lot to get to.

Glamour: Let’s start with Penny and Leonard. Why make Penny pregnant after she was very much against having kids?

Steve Molaro: We couldn’t help but go back to the pilot when they met—which was such an early structural piece of the entire series—and Leonard saying that someday their babies would be smart and beautiful. It seemed to be a landing place that was satisfying. At the same time, we still tried to honor her feelings about having been against it earlier in the season.

What was Kaley’s reaction? When I moderated the Big Bang Theory panel at Paleyfest, she said she didn't want Penny and Leonard to become parents.

Molaro: She and Johnny Galecki were both really happy with the landing place for Leonard and Penny.

What can you tell me about Amy’s makeover, because Mayim Bialik really did cut her hair. Did this story stem from her decision to do that, or was it character driven?

Steve Holland: It was solely character-driven. It was actually funny because when we were talking about it, we went to Mayim and said, "How would you feel about cutting your hair? Because we have this storyline…," she got so excited. She was like, "What?! I can cut my hair? Are you serious?" She had been wanting to do it for a while, so she was thrilled to get the chance to cut her hair.

Was she wearing a wig in the first part of the finale? Because when Amy first debuts her haircut, it’s medium length. Then it gets shorter throughout.

Holland: Right. She was [wearing a wig] in the first part just because of the logistics of having to shoot both the long- and short-haired version of her in the same week. She got it actually cut before episode 24. So episode 23 was a wig and 24 was the haircut.

Was the storyline done to help Sheldon come to a revelation about change and and how to cope? It seems like it's parallel to how viewers are feeling about the loss of this iconic sitcom—it's a big change. Is that how you saw it?

Holland: Yeah, I think it was both growth for Amy, and it also certainly pushed Sheldon. There’s a line I love that Penny says to him in The Cheesecake Factory about how for someone that hates change so much, he's changed a lot since she first met him. That's also an opportunity to look back on the last 12 years and really realize how much all of these characters have grown and changed.

Speaking of change, we finally saw real-life Halley and Michael. I’ve been campaigning to see them since day one.

Molaro: [Laughs.] You and my mom.

Since they were originally kept out of sight as a tribute to Howard's mom, what finally changed your mind?

Holland: Actually that wasn’t a big part of the plan [originally]. We were writing the scene where Howard and Bernadette were talking about leaving them with Stuart and Denise to go to the Nobel ceremony, and Chuck [Lorre] was like, "What if we show them? Why not?" We avoided showing them for so long because it allowed us to not have to have kids on the set. But we never have to show them again this way, so it seemed like a fun little Easter egg to pull out at the end.

Last week we saw Raj decide not to go after Anu in London. But in tonight's episode—when Raj said, "You'll never believe who called me!"—I half-expected it to be her saying she was going to stay in Los Angeles. Instead it was Sarah Michelle Gellar accepting his invitation to the Nobel ceremony, which I loved. What motivated you to have Raj stay single?

Holland: It just felt like we didn’t need to leave everyone in a relationship at the end of the show. Also, it felt like life was going to go on for these characters. This wasn’t an end for them. There’s more adventures for them to go on, we just weren’t going to see those stories anymore. We didn’t need to tie all these stories up and leave the characters all in a more finite place.

Bill Prady: Raj continuing to look for love is more satisfying to me than him finding someone neatly at the end of the series. The decision to say, "I’m going to wait for the right person, and I believe the right person is out there," is a really cool ending. I love that we kind of leave the characters where we’ve known them to be.

How did the Sarah Michelle Gellar cameo come to be?

Molaro: [Laughs.] We were figuring out everybody being on the plane, and we knew that Koothrappali was going to have an empty seat next to him. Chuck thought this was an opportunity to have somebody fun sitting there. Whether it’s just a really interesting person, someone for him to meet, or a celebrity.

Holland: A bunch of the writers and myself are big Buffy fans. It seemed like a fun, cool, pull to get Sarah Michelle Gellar on the show.

Johnny Galecki brought Bob Newhart to the wrap party. Was there any discussion about bringing him back for the finale?

Prady: Yeah, Bob pitched it. I don’t know if it was a serious pitch, but I think he pitched he and Leonard waking up in bed together or some version of the Newhart ending. [Laughs.]

That's funny. I said this at Paleyfest last year, but my theory was that in the finale, Penny was going to wake up from a nightmare where in reality she's the expert scientist and the guys were just dudes she knows.

Prady: Well, pragmatically Penny was always the smartest one. Look, one of the driving ideas in The Big Bang Theory is intelligence is not an asset in so many aspects of life.

So true. Let's talk about the elevator working again. That payoff was amazing. How long did it take to come up with the reveal?

Holland: It’s interesting, because when we were breaking out the finale, that moment was going to come much, much later in the episode. Then as we were breaking out the episode, it just felt right. It felt like Sheldon was dealing with so much change and was at his breaking point. It seemed like the one thing that could push him over the edge. Also, it coming so early in the finale felt like it would be a much bigger surprise because no one would be expecting it to happen that early.

Penny is the first to ride in the elevator, so with her in mind, had you guys discussed revealing her maiden name? Or having her return to her acting roots?

Molaro: Never discussed it. It still falls under the category of superstition for us. Even though we finished the series, we’re still somehow afraid revealing that will get us canceled. [Laughs.]

Prady: It’s also one of those odd things where characters got last names when they needed them. Chuck likes names because of how they sound, while I'm a hunting-for-deep-meaning kind of guy. For example, in the original version of the pilot, Leonard and Sheldon found her on the street. In my mind, she was a lucky penny. And then Leonard'S and Sheldon's names came from [producer/writer/actor] Sheldon Leonard.

Here's another funny story: Stuart didn’t have a last name, but there were [audition] sides that went out and he was given a temporary last name of Bloom just for them. Fans got ahold of those sides because they go out on websites for actors to download, and so his last name appeared in an online database. I remember looking at it in the writers' room, and we were like, "That’s his last name?!" We were all baffled by it. So we said, "OK, well, that’s it," and put it in. But the Penny thing definitely became a superstition.

Shamy fans were hoping that Amy would be pregnant in the finale, or they'd see them with kids in a flash-forward. What was the reason not to show that, since we know they do become parents one day?

Prady: I think the feeling was because that’s a reveal on Young Sheldon, it had no weight as a Big Bang finale reveal. It winds up being an "Oh, by the way…" kind of thing.

The Nobel speech that Sheldon and Amy gave in Stockholm was perfection. How hard was that to get right?

Holland: That’s the piece of the finale we’ve probably known for the longest. Since we found out this was the last season we talked about where we wanted to land, and the Nobel prize ceremony was a thing we knew early on. That moment in that speech was a thing we knew we wanted to do, so that’s probably the piece we’ve been thinking about longer than any other part of the finale.

Molaro: We were all crying our eyes out in the writers' room while we were writing it. Everybody. The speech was moving to begin with, but because we were getting close to typing the words End of Series on the screen, it was a tough day.

It felt like it was a way to honor both the characters and the actors.

Holland: It was important for us also to make sure this last moment wasn't just about Sheldon and Amy, but about this ensemble. Because that’s what this show has always been.

Talk about the tag—the last scene—that was originally left a secret from the audience on tape night.

Prady: There's obviously a slow, acoustic version of The Big Bang theme from the Barenaked Ladies that plays over the scene as the characters eat Chinese food, and it matches the opening credits. We shot it early in the week of filming. There was a lot of focus on the technical stuff in that scene, like how we wanted the camera to move. We shot it over and over in different ways. The cast was ad-libbing dialogue to each other, and because there were so many technical things happening, I think it kept it from getting overly emotional, even though they knew it was going to be the last scene.

There's something else special about that scene, right?

Prady: Penny is wearing the top she wears when she first appears on-screen in the pilot, which was really cool. And then it's nice to see Amy and Sheldon wearing their Nobel medals.

Any parting message you want to send to the fans?

Holland: Just thank you. Thank you for sticking with us, thank you for being so invested in these characters, thank you for letting us tell these stories. And Jessica, because of your cameo, you still have time to submit yourself for Emmy nominations. You gotta get on that. [Laughs.]

Jessica Radloff is Glamour's west coast editor. Follow her on Instagram @jessicaradloff14 and Twitter @JRadloff.

Originally Appeared on Glamour