Simon Helberg Unaware He Was The Second Choice For Howard

There were a ton of casting changes on Chuck Lorre’s hit sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” before it officially premiered in 2007, and real fans know that the role of Howard Wolowitz was almost played by Kevin Sussman (who ended up with the role of comic book store owner Stuart Bloom when all was said and done). You know who didn’t know that for a really long time, though? Simon Helberg, who did end up playing Howard Wolowitz. 

During an interview promoting Jessica Radloff’s 2022 tell-all oral history “The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series,” which was reported by ET, Radloff revealed that Sussman knew he was the first choice for Howard, but that commitments to ABC’s “Ugly Betty” ultimately prevented him from joining the show. “I remember talking to executive producer and showrunner Steve Molaro,” Radloff said in the interview, which also featured the show’s creator Chuck Lorre.

“I said, ‘Steve, Simon was wondering. There was about a week period between auditions where he didn’t hear anything and he’s like, I felt like something was going on. When I talked to Kevin Sussman, Kevin told me that he actually had the role of Wolowitz first. My jaw was on the floor. I wanted to know why have you never said anything?'” Radloff said. “That shows what an amazing guy Kevin Sussman is. He never wanted to get in Simon’s head and to make him think you weren’t the first person cast, which was so incredible to do that. Very, very kind.” 

That’s true — Sussman never told Helberg about this, and in Radloff’s book, the actor spoke to her himself and explained why he never spilled the beans.

As Kevin Sussman told Jessica Radloff, it was basically a no-brainer to never tell Simon Helberg that he booked the role of Howard Wolowitz first — and for twelve years and seasons, he kept that secret. “I never mentioned it,” Sussman said. “I just didn’t want to put that out in the ether because my relationship with him was so good. He was always so supportive and so amazing in his role. I feel like anything that actually winds up being good in the entertainment industry is through a series of mistakes, because the cards are so stacked against every project. We lucked out by getting a cast that all really enjoyed each other, so I never brought it up because I didn’t want that to affect our working relationship.”

Sussman is incredibly gracious, and he makes a good point — plus, it’s not like he didn’t end up getting a great role on the series! Appropriately, Sussman’s Stuart Bloom ends up overlapping with Howard’s plotlines quite a lot as the show progresses; Stuart even lives with Howard and his wife Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz (Melissa Rauch) and helps take care of their two children. Sussman is also slated to appear in a forthcoming “Big Bang Theory” spin-off that’s coming to Max at some point — alongside fellow supporting players Brian Posehn and Lauren Lapkus, the latter of whom plays Stuart’s love interest Denise — so clearly, the role of Stuart was pretty life-changing, even if Sussman couldn’t play Howard Wolowitz as planned. 

So how did Simon Helberg react when he found out, in real time while working on interviews for Jessica Radloff’s book, that he was the second choice to play Howard Wolowitz? “Oh my God, I’m literally covered in goosebumps right now,” Helberg told Radloff before saying he always suspected that the show’s producers had a soft spot for Kevin Sussman and that he always thought “something happened” involving Sussman. “My feeling was that the network or the studio was not fully on board, but I had no idea what really happened … and Kevin obviously never told me that,” Helberg continued.

Radloff wrote in the book that after Helberg learned this information, he asked her permission to contact Sussman and say the secret was out — at which point he gave it all some thought. “When you’re an actor and you’re rejected or swapped out, you can’t help but internalize it as a slight against you personally,” Helberg said. “But at the same time, after doing it for so long, you do, for better or for worse, become a little bit immune to that. I’m the biggest Kevin fan in the world. I would have loved to see Kevin play my role, too. I’m happy I was ultimately the one who got to do it, but I love Kevin.”

Obviously, everything worked out for the best, but it makes sense that Helberg was quite surprised by this revelation. “Obviously hearing they wanted someone else first is an easier piece of information than hearing, ‘Oh, you almost got the role that would have set you up [for life],’ and I realize that. It’s just fascinating because you do something for so long with people … and I knew we would learn things in this book, but … wow.”

“The Big Bang Theory” is streaming on Max now.