Night Court Season 2 Secretly Honors Raj’s Big Bang Theory Finale Role
Kunal Nayyar makes his debut in Night Court season 2 as fashion designer Martini Toddwallis, which references his final The Big Bang Theory role.
Kunal Nayyar in Night Court season 2 and Raj in his tux during TBBT Finale’s Nobel Prize ceremony
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Night Court season 2.
Kunal Nayyar’s guest appearance in Night Court season 2 pays homage to his role in The Big Bang Theory finale.
Nayyar plays a world-renowned fashion designer, reminiscent of Raj’s love for clothes and design in The Big Bang Theory.
Despite their different characters, Night Court season 2 honors Nayyar and Melissa Rauch’s history from The Big Bang Theory.
Kunal Nayyar’s guest appearance in Night Court season 2 secretly pays homage to his The Big Bang Theory finale role. Almost half a decade since The Big Bang Theory ended in 2019, a small screen reunion between two core actors took place in the NBC revival with Nayyar joining Melissa Rauch’s new TV endeavor. While this isn’t the first time that the cast members have collaborated since they wrapped up, this marks the first time it happened via a different sitcom. Considering the success of The Big Bang Theory, there was excitement over the special team-up.
Nayyar debuts as Martini Toddwallis in Night Court season 2, episode 7, “A Crime of Fashion” — a world-renowned fashion designer who gets entangled with Rauch’s Abby. After Abby’s previous relationship fell apart, she struggled to find a good partner after a series of failed dates. So when she meets the charming Martini, she is immediately smitten. Unfortunately, they eventually realize that they cannot be together because they exist in very different worlds. While Rauch and Nayyar play totally new characters, Night Court season 2 still manages to honor their The Big Bang Theory history in a couple of ways.
Previously, The Big Bang Theory stars Mayim Bialik and Simon Helberg had separate voice cameos in Young Sheldon, which is starred and produced by Jim Parsons.
Night Court’s Nayyar Character Mirrors His TBBT Finale’s Last Big Role
Raj smiling in The Big Bang Theory
As a fashion designer, Martini finds inspiration in his quick affair with Abby in Night Court season 2. After his supposed groundbreaking reinvention of pants, he uses the court’s plain black robe as the core piece of his next creation. Sadly, it’s too avant-garde for Abby’s liking and the court she presides over. However, making Nayyar play someone who is a big name in the fashion industry not only refers to Raj’s penchant for clothes and design in The Big Bang Theory, but Martini dressing up Abby honors his final significant role in the nerd-centric finale.
Raj from The Big Bang Theory and Kunal Nayyar and Melissa Rauch from Night Court
Kunal Nayyar’s Night Court Role Does What The Big Bang Theory Failed To Do For Raj
Night Court is bringing in Kunal Nayyar as a guest star and doing something that The Big Bang Theory failed to do during the his 12-year stint as Raj.
Following Sheldon and Amy’s Nobel win, the press started to hound both of them. While the socially-inept genius basked in the attention, his wife became terrified of it. Raj was the one who helped her go through a make over, resulting in Amy’s new look in The Big Bang Theory finale. Throughout the series, Raj was ridiculed for his more feminine taste and tendencies. It was the reason why he could easily relate to the female characters in the show, albeit only on a platonic level. Nayyar gets to fully embrace that in his Night Court season 2 guest appearance.
As expected, Abby’s relationship with Martini is short-lived. By the end of the Night Court episode, the pair decides to split up, although there are no hard feelings between them. Nayyar’s guest role was never going to turn into a regular occurrence, especially considering his other endeavors. That being said, there are clues that it may not be the last time that the fashion designer will be in the NBC revival, the biggest of which is when he tells Abby “til we meet again.” This keeps the door open for Nayyar’s possible return to the show.