The Big Bang Theory: 10 Problems It Faces Moving Forward

Introducing a child into an established sitcom is a big step. It dictates the kind of stories and gags you can write, and once the character has been created, you can’t get rid of them and pretend they never existed. Unless your show is Family Matters. But The Big Bang Theory’s creative team are much smarter than that. Which is why Howard and Bernadette’s daughter Halley could make things difficult.

For now, Halley almost never appears onscreen and is quietly left to sleep in another room. But unless the show does the old trick of keeping her the same age for years on end (It worked for Baby Daddy after all), then eventually Halley needs to be a part of the show.

If Season 12 ends up being the finale and the show sticks to its “One season = One year” timeline, then at that point Halley will be nearly three years old. A walking, talking, thinking person. Which means that it will be much harder to conveniently write her out of each episode at that point.

Finding a child actor who can hold her own against the rest of the cast is one issue, but there’s also how to slot Halley into the show without upsetting the established character balance. There’s a reason why Ben rarely appeared in Friends as he grew up, and why Emma only reached age one.