When The Big Bang Theory ended on May 16, 2019, it marked the end of one of the best sitcoms network TV had ever put together. Fans had fallen in love with Penny, Sheldon, Raj, Amy, Leonard, Howard and Bernadette. 

They’d captured our attention for 12 seasons, following the characters through jobs and relationships and lots of nerdy things in between. Then, in 2018, Jim Parsons decided he was ready to leave in what would become a memorable piece of TV history.

The TBBT cast all posted after the final episode taping in early May of that year, but before the final line had been spoken and the final clap had been heard in the studio,

 they'd undergone a table read. Footage of that read went viral recently, and it eventually made its way to Kaley Cuoco's own Instagram, where she responded.

It’s unclear if the cast was in shock when Parsons reached out to the studio and told them Season 12 would be his last, though he indicated later he'd felt an inkling in advance. Cuoco didn’t address this in her recent post, though reports at the time indicated “Warner Brothers and CBS wanted to sign for about two more years.”

 So, while Parsons was ready, It doesn't seem like the majority of people who were involved in the sitcom went into the series expecting Season 12 to be its last, which is one of the reasons that last table read was likely so hard.