When The Big Bang Theory aired its series finale, all their characters were married—some had children—except for one, Raj. His story arc ended with him single and having hope the "one" was still out there.
But why was his character not given "the happily ever after" that all the others seemingly got? Especially odd, considering Raj was in an on-again-off-again relationship with the character Anu.
Anu And Raj's Relationship Didn't Last On The Big Bang Theory
Raj was the only Indian character on the show, so the writers paid homage to the cultural tradition of arranged marriages. We see Raj asking his father to set him up on a mutually agreed-upon arranged marriage. After he asks this of his father, fans of the show meet Anu.
In the episode "The Procreation Calculation," Raj and Anu go on their first date and end up engaged. We further see Raj introduce Anu to his friends at Leonard and Penny's Halloween party in "The Imitation Perturbation." Raj goes as Ruther Bader Ginsburg, and Anu goes as the US Constitution—as he plans on "interpreting her."
All is well in their relationship, and they set their wedding for Valentine's Day in "The Consummation Deviation." The wedding going to be in India until Raj sees Anu greeting her ex-boyfriend with too much affection. The pair calls off the wedding when he believes she's cheating.
However, they decide to give their relationship another go and date one another. But, this plan changes when Anu is offered a job in London. She asks Raj to join her.
He is initially all about it and wants to fly to London and propose. But, Howard—Raj's best friend—advises him against it and tells him he will find the right girl. And thus, Raj turns Anu down, and the pair is officially over.
What Was The Show's Motivation To Keep Raj Single?
Executive producers Steve Holland and Bill Prady, who also co-created the show with Chuck Lorre, expressed their motivation for Raj ending the series single to Glamour. Holland said, "It just felt like we didn't need to leave everyone in a relationship at the end of the show. Also, it felt like life was going to go on for these characters."
Holland continued with, "This wasn't an end for them. There's more adventures for them to go on; we just weren't going to see those stories anymore. We didn't need to tie all these stories up and leave the characters all in a more finite place."
Ending with Raj, not in a relationship, left the show open-ended. Prady is pleased with how ambiguous the ending is. "Raj continuing to look for love is more satisfying to me than him finding someone neatly at the end of the series."
Prady goes on to say, "The decision to say, 'I'm going to wait for the right person, and I believe the right person is out there,' is a really cool ending. I love that we kind of leave the characters where we've known them to be."
What Does Sarah Michelle Gellar Have To Do With Raj?
The episode before the finale shows Raj saying, "You'll never believe who called me." It was implied, and many fans speculated, Anu had decided not to go to London so she and Raj could be together.
But, it was Sarah Michelle Gellar who accepted Raj's invitation to attend the Nobel ceremony with him—Amy and Sheldon, two of Rajs best friends—were receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in Super Asymmetry.
Steve Molaro, who is another executive producer and co-creator, said, "We were figuring out everybody being on the plane, and we knew that Koothrappali [Raj] was going to have an empty seat next to him."
He continues, "Chuck [Lorre] thought this was an opportunity to have somebody fun sitting there. Whether it's just a really interesting person, someone for him to meet, or a celebrity."
Holland stated, "A bunch of the writers and myself are big Buffy fans. It seemed like a fun, cool pull to get Sarah Michelle Gellar on the show."
How Does Kunal Nayyar Feel About The Decision?
Kunal Nayyar played Raj Koothrappali for 12 years. Nayyar has stated his character was treated poorly in the past, but almost three years after the show ended, he spoke to Metro UK in 2020 about how he truly felt about his character send-off.
Nayyar said, "I find it quite poignant that the one character that believed in true love so much was the one who didn't, in the end, find it. It's beautiful! It doesn't have to be so formulaic; that's what I loved about the show—it doesn't have to be a certain way, you know?"
With the show ending and no new story arcs being created for these characters, Nayyar says that doesn't mean it's the end. "In the world of these characters, they wake up the next morning, and their life continues. So somewhere, these guys are living and having a great life, and their adventures are continuing."
Nayyar finished his thoughts on Raj ending up single, saying, "...we were saying goodbye to the show, but in their lives, they're continuing on. I don't know what Raj is doing. But we have this Hindi word called 'Masti.' He's up to some mischief. So wherever he is, he's doing some masti!"
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