During his 12-season, 12-year streak, The Big Bang Theory has had a ton of guest stars — the list of Star Trek veterans alone is pretty long, actually. One of the Star Trek favorites happens to be Wil Wheaton, who first appears as "himself" (more on that distinction soon) in season 3 to emotionally terrorize Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons). This long-running arc in the show, which continued until the final season, almost didn't happen - because Wheaton was completely against the show and the idea of ​​appearing on it.

In Jessica Radloff's 2022 book "The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series,” Wheaton and series co-creator Bill Prady found that to be the case enough it was difficult to get Wheaton on the show, but not only did he appear in almost every season (just skipping the first two episodes and season 10), he became a mainstay of the sitcom.

"I was actually really against the show when I first heard about it," Wheaton admitted. "I thought it would be a mockery of people like me - life-long nerds." Whenever someone in the party wants to do something about our culture, chances are the nerds will be the joke. that." Thankfully, Wheaton eventually gave the show a chance, but said he was "disappointed" with himself for prejudging it and being unfair to the creators. "I became a huge fan and tweeted about how much I liked it, when ( (executive producer) Steve Molaro saw that tweet and invited me to pitch," he explained.

After all, getting Wil Wheaton to join The Big Bang Theory in virtually any capacity was a challenge, and Bill Prady had to take matters into his own hands. "I got an email from Bill Prady's assistant saying he'd like to talk to me," Wheaton recalled. "And bless Bill forever, he talked to me like I was someone he cared about deeply and knew nothing about his show." He was so kind." After saying that he had previously worked with two producers who were horrible people (Wheaton called them "d*cks," to be super-specific) and assumed most producers were just as dumb, Wheaton went on to say that he and Prady became lifelong friends as a result of the call. "Bill and I are now remarkably good friends," Wheaton said. "But I got on the phone with Bill, and he said he wanted me to come on the show and play a version of myself."

"He wasn't sure if he was going to play himself on the show ... which is not unusual," Pradi clarified. "You become an actor so you don't have to play yourself." You become an actor so you can be other people." However, the team was determined to book Wheaton, who actually lived near Pasadena (where the series takes place) and, as Steve Molaro apparently told Bill Prady, might be a regular patron of the comic book store Sheldon frequents. and his friends, so it was up to Pradi to convince him. Obviously, getting Wheaton to "play himself" was the main issue.

"I felt that playing myself was a betrayal ... that it wasn't something I had earned," Wil Wheaton told Jessica Radloff in the book. "Or it's going to be a one-off where someone says, 'Hey, look, that's the Star Trek kid,' and then it's over." And I didn't want that." Wheaton really loved the show at that point, practically begging Prady to let him audition for a character. He understood, but eventually told him, "No actor wants to play himself, but you're the only actor who can play Wil Wheaton."

Prady offered to let Wheaton consider playing himself and also let Wheaton know if any non-Wheaton roles came up that worked out, but apparently, a person from a completely different series ended up swaying him Wheaton. That person? Wheaton's friend John Rogers, famous for creating shows like Leverage and The Librarians. Regarding his conversation with Rogers, Wheaton recalled that he was quiet at first before Rogers put him to bed because he had foolishly passed up the chance to be on the most popular TV show currently airing. He apparently yelled at him to "get Bill Prady on the phone and tell him you're going to do whatever he wants or we're not friends," so Wheaton did just that.

For his part, Prady was pretty grateful ... and not only that, but he figured out a way to make Wheaton happy to boot. "Yes, he did, and thank God," Prady said of Rodgers' "tips" before saying he was nervous about telling Wheaton about the approach he took to his pitch. "I remember being terrified to call him and say, 'We made your character evil,' but man, he was happy about it!" He said, "Oh my god, this is the greatest thing ever!" It gave him a character to play - "The Evil Wil Wheaton". And then the character evolved over time and eventually became a friend of the guys, but I loved that he was okay with that."

As Bill Prady rightly says in Jessica Radloff's book, Wil Wheaton does start out basically playing Evil Wil Wheaton, but in season 5, he and Sheldon finally make peace and he becomes friends with the whole gang. (However, he still playfully antagonizes Sheldon quite often, and it's really funny.) It's hard to imagine the show without Wheaton shows up almost every season to hang out with the characters, and apparently, Wheaton feels the same way.

In May 2019 when "The Big Bang Theory" ended with the season 12 finale "Stockholm Syndrome," Wheaton posted on Instagram to commemorate her time on the show (the post has now been deleted, but was posted on Digital spy). After saying he watched the show's final taping live, Wheaton said: "I think it's fair to say that if I were to build a tripod out of my career, the main legs would be 'Stand By Me', 'Star Trek' and 'The Theory of Big Bang.' It kind of amazes me to be able to say that. It's amazing to me that I have all these things in my life, when honestly just (one) of them would be more than anyone could hope for on his or her resume."

Wheaton was not only grateful to be a part of The Big Bang Theory, but went on to say that he thinks it saved his career and helped him stay alive as a performer at a time when he was struggling a bit in the industry. "Mainstream Hollywood doesn't seem particularly interested in me and what I bring to production these days," he continued. "I don't know why and I don't know if I'll ever be able to do anything to change that, but I can say for sure that I probably have an acting career in front of cameras today because of 'The Big Bang Theory.' , and everything I do in front of the camera for the rest of my career will rest on the shoulders of the work I've had the privilege and honor of doing over the last decade."

"The Big Bang Theory," including Wheaton's 17 episodes, is now streaming on Max.