The Big Bang Theory season 10

Production

The series was picked up for three more seasons—the eighth, ninth, and tenth—in March 2014, covering the 2016–17 television year. For its tenth season, the show temporarily shifted its schedule. Because CBS had picked up the rights to Thursday Night Football, the first five episodes aired on a different night. At its upfront presentation in May 2016, CBS confirmed the season would start on Mondays and then move back to Thursdays once the football games wrapped up.

Production kicked off on August 16, 2016, as several cast members, including Kaley Cuoco and Mayim Bialik, shared updates on Instagram and Twitter. Before the season premiered, a few guest stars were announced. On July 22, 2016, Variety reported that Katey Sagal and Jack McBrayer would play Penny's mother and brother. Sagal's character, Susan, was described as stressed and neurotic from dealing with her troubled son.

McBrayer's Randall was a cheerful former drug dealer and ex-con. A week before filming began, Entertainment Weekly revealed on August 10, 2016, that Dean Norris would appear in a multi-episode arc as Colonel Williams, a tough Air Force Research Laboratory officer interested in the guys' quantum gyroscope for military use. Later, on November 9, 2016, TVLine announced that Christopher Lloyd had been cast as Theodore for the tenth episode of the season.