Article content continued

When it comes to numbers, as of this season, the original cast each earn $1 million an episode (just like each member of Friends), while Rauch and Bialik bank about $200,000 per episode.

During renewal discussions that began late last year, the original cast agreed to each take a $100,000 cut in their salaries for the 11th and 12th seasons, leaving $500,000 to add to the actress’s raises.

That would mean Bialik and Rauch will each earn about $450,000 per episode for the next two 24-episode seasons, earning over $21.6 million over the next two years.

Whether they will attempt to reach parity with the original cast’s million-dollar earnings is still up in the air, as their salary discussions only began early this week.

The pair have both been key in the series’ biggest rated episodes, as Bialik, who has been nominated for an Emmy for her role four years in a row, plays Sheldon’s long-suffering girlfriend, and Rauch plays Wolowitz’s partner.

The last time the series faced major salary discussions was just last season when Helberg and Nayyar negotiated raises that brought them to seven-figure parity (as of this current season) with Parsons, Galecki and Cuoco.

And as the most-watched sitcom in primetime, CBS has made it clear that the studio has no plans to let go of The Big Bang Theory just yet. “We’ll put it on for as long as everyone wants Big Bang on the air,” said CBS chief Glenn Geller at the 2016 Television Critics Association’s press tour last August, reports Entertainment Weekly. “I hope it lasts forever.”

Don’t. We. All.