This Big Bang Theory Character Should Have Been The Breakout Star, Not Sheldon Cooper

The Big Bang Theory premiered in 2007, but it took a few seasons for the alchemy to really come together. Season 1 centered on Leonard as the protagonist and audience surrogate, with his pursuing Penny as the overall arc of the show. Sheldon Cooper was his eccentric roommate whose quirks generated many of the biggest laughs.

In season 2, Sheldon Cooper was the undeniable breakout star of The Big Bang Theory, and come season 3, Sheldon actor Jim Parsons won his first of four Emmys for playing Caltech’s most brilliant but inflexible scientist.

By season 4, the main cast of The Big Bang Theory that most fans picture was locked into place. Adding Bernadette and Amy made it more of an ensemble show about friendship and romance, but it also cemented Sheldon as the fan-favorite character and the star the rest of the ensemble orbited around.

18 years after the show premiered and seven years after it ended, it’s undeniable that Sheldon became the face of the franchise — even getting his own prequel spinoff in Young Sheldon. However, Howard Wolowitz is the character who had all the components to become the show’s defining star.

Howard had the best arc of any Big Bang Theory character, naturally evolving from creep to a genuinely caring family man. Actor Simon Helberg got to show off many talents — musicality, impressions, physical humor — so that upon rewatch, it’s curious why Howard wasn’t more of a breakout character.

Howard Wolowitz Should Have Been The Big Bang Theory’s Barney Stinson From How I Met Your Mother

Howard occupied a remarkably similar role in The Big Bang Theory to Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother. Neither is the audience surrogate nor the emotional lead, but both begin as the wildly inappropriate friend whose over-the-top attempts at dating generate some of the show’s biggest laughs.

Barney’s elaborate playbook schemes and impossible confidence are played as a comedic exaggeration rather than admirable behavior, with the rest of the gang frequently calling out his manipulation and dishonesty. Neil Patrick Harris’ endlessly charismatic performance turned what could have been an unlikable character into How I Met Your Mother‘s breakout star.

Howard fills a comparable niche during The Big Bang Theory‘s early seasons. His unearned confidence and unsuccessful attempts at womanizing make him one of the sitcom’s most consistently funny characters, even as the series makes it clear that his behavior toward women is wrong. Simon Helberg makes Howard’s failures just as entertaining as Barney’s improbable successes.

The difference is that The Big Bang Theory allows Howard to outgrow those flaws in a way How I Met Your Mother never fully does with Barney. Howard’s relationship with Bernadette forces him to mature without stripping away the eccentric personality that made him memorable in the first place.

Howard becomes a devoted husband, a loving father of two daughters, and arguably the most well-rounded character in the ensemble, yet he remains hilariously dramatic, deeply insecure, and perpetually immature. Despite starting from nearly identical archetypes, the two characters ended up with very different legacies.

Barney became How I Met Your Mother‘s defining fan favorite and cultural phenomenon, while Howard remained overshadowed by Sheldon. Considering Howard received the stronger long-term character development without sacrificing his comedy, there’s a compelling argument that he should have become The Big Bang Theory‘s true breakout star instead.

Why Sheldon Cooper Became The Face Of The Big Bang Theory

Image via Everett Collection

Jim Parsons’ pitch-perfect performance transformed Sheldon’s rigid routines, encyclopedic knowledge, and complete inability to understand social conventions into a seemingly endless source of comedy. Sheldon’s catchphrases like “Bazinga!“ entered the pop culture lexicon, while his eccentric worldview made him instantly recognizable even to people who had never watched the show.

Although Sheldon did change over 12 seasons of TBBT, his appeal came from how carefully the series balanced growth with consistency. Watching Sheldon explore intimacy with Amy for the first time felt like a genuine milestone in both the show and the fandom. Without abandoning his quirks, The Big Bang Theory revealed how much friendship meant to Sheldon.

Sheldon also came to represent The Big Bang Theory itself. As the series became synonymous with geek culture on network television, he embodied its identity more than any other member of the ensemble. When people thought of The Big Bang Theory, they thought of Sheldon.

However, being the show’s most iconic character isn’t necessarily the same as being its most fully realized one. Sheldon became the face of The Big Bang Theory because he was its most distinctive personality, while Howard quietly underwent the series’ most remarkable transformation.

Release Date

2007 – 2019-00-00

Showrunner

Mark Cendrowski