‘The Big Bang Theory’ director Mark Cendrowski, writer Steve Holland on delivering an ’emotional’ series finale [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW]

Steve Holland understandably felt “a lot of pressure” to deliver a memorable series finale for “The Big Bang Theory.” Having worked as a writer and producer on the show since the third season, Holland knew there “was such a big fan base” to please. So he and the rest of the team wanted to “send these characters and these actors off on a high note.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Holland and director Mark Cendrowski above.

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CBS’s long-running series wrapped up after 12 seasons with its 280th episode, “The Stockholm Syndrome,” in which physicist Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) and his wife Amy (Mayim Bialik) receive a Nobel Prize for their work. During his acceptance speech he delivers a poignant thank you to his friends Leonard (Johnny Galecki), Penny (Kaley Cuoco), Howard (Simon Helberg), Raj (Kunal Nayyar) and Bernadette (Melissa Rauch), who all traveled to Stockholm to share in the moment.

But the cast and crew never thought of it as “a final episode,” Cendrowski reveals. “It was an emotional episode, and it tied a lot of things together,” but that doesn’t mean these characters are dead and gone. “Just as our lives kept going the next day, you felt that these characters kept going the next day.” Ultimately it was “a journey from year one … These characters grew, we got to know them more, and just the way our lives change,” so too did their lives change.

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Cendrowski has been with the series since the very beginning, directing a whopping 244 episodes. He earned his first Emmy nomination last year for helming the season 11 finale, and is the current directors branch representative at the TV academy. He is also a two-time DGA nominee for “The Big Bang Theory” (2013-2014).

Meanwhile, Holland has received writing credit on 198 episodes of the show since he came on-board. He has contended at the Emmys four times in the Best Comedy Series category as a producer (2011-2014).

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