If you're not ready to say goodbye to The Big Bang Theory, well, you're not alone. At the 2018 Television Critics Association summer press tour, CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl addressed the future of the long-running sitcom, which is currently entering season 12, the last season of its most recent two-season renewal at CBS.
"We don't believe it's the final year," Kahl said. "We're in preliminary discussions with Warner Bros., the studio."
The Big Bang Theory cast, which includes Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik, Melissa Rauch and Simon Helberg, previously banded together to negotiate contracts.
In May, Kahl hinted the show could return.
"We are hopeful there will be more. As long as [Chuck Lorre] and his team, [Steve Molaro] and those guys think they have stories to tell, we'll take it for as long as they want," Kahl told reporters. "We certainly hope to get a few more years out of it. It's not slowing down."
Parsons told E! News in March 2018 that, "It's impossible at this point to envision life without this show, which is a wonderful thing on so many levels."
"The other wonderful thing that turns into kind of a weird thing is the whole 'time flies when you're having fun.' The idea that when this current contract is up, 12 years will have gone by is jarring when you really put your mind to it. I don't know why I bring that up other than to say it's so hard to envision one day after another even now. And so could the show go on? If the writers are willing and interested in writing it, yeah, absolutely," he said.
The Big Bang Theory returns to CBS this fall.