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Legendary actor Judd Hirsch is cast as Leonard’s dad in The Big Bang Theory

March 18th, 2016 by Marc Comments

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It may have taken the show nine series, but The Big Bang Theory has finally announced the casting of Leonard’s dad, and unsurprising to fans of the show about sci-fi fans, he’s to be played by Independence Day star Judd Hirsch.

The announcement was made on Wednesday at the PaleyFest panel in LA (via Squareeyed), with Johnny Galecki – who plays Leonard on the show – sharing the good news. He also says he had a hand in the casting, as after meeting Hirsch he said “he’s a hero of mine and I knew that he was a hero of Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady’s [the producers behind the show] so I just accosted him and cornered him and practically made him commit on the spot to play my father. I’m really excited about it. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

What we’re taking from this is that you always say yes to Leonard.

Though the character of Leonard’s dad has not yet made an appearance on the show, what we do know about him is that he is an anthropologist, and that he and Leonard’s mum are divorced following him cheating on her.

We also know that the two have never been overly affectionate towards each other, which could lead to some serious drama once he finally does make his appearance.

Speaking about the future of the show, executive producer Steve Molaro recently mentioned in an interview with Entertainment Tonight that it doesn’t look like the family reunions will stop there; “There’s so many family members that we haven’t met yet. Penny’s Mom, Leonard’s dad, Penny’s brother — which is a great one that I’m interested in — Sheldon’s brother, and Howard’s dad is floating around out there.”

It may have reached season nine, but it looks like The Big Bang Theory still has many light years to still travel.

Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….