As you said, there’s a lot happening in this episode, with the comic book store reopening and looking cool, Sheldon and Amy secretly testing the intelligence of Leonard and Penny, and Raj and Leonard having a really fun run-in with guest star Nathan Fillion. How did that come about? 
I had run into him at Comic-Con last year, and I’m a fan of his. And one of the other writers, Steve Holland, was with me, and we just started talking to him and telling him we were from Big Bang and big fans of his. And he’s a fan of the show and was very supportive. We just started talking about him being on the show someday, and he was certainly open to it. So when this storyline popped up, it seemed like a great little way to use him. And it just all worked out. He was just great, and we had a lot of fun with him.

 

That storyline, of pretending he isn’t who he is to get a little alone time in public, is something you can imagine has really happened to guys like him and another TBBT guest star, Wil Wheaton. Was there any inspiration for that story?
I think we just liked the idea. When I first talked to Nathan about it, I don’t think we quite knew the ending. At that point in time, he either was Nathan Fillion and just wanted to eat his lunch and not be bothered or he was a guy who just happened to look like Nathan Fillion. We thought those were both pretty fun ways to go, but we ultimately went with what seemed like the most satisfying and interesting ending. I thought it played very organically and real. I think he is known for being pretty great with his fans, so he managed to get away with it and just say, “Yeah, it’s me, I was just trying to have my lunch, but let’s take a picture.” I would love to have him back on again someday.

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