What if Sheldon Caused the Zombie Apocalypse in The Walking Dead?

The Big Bang Theory Crossover with The Walking Dead?

Okay, now this has been bugging me for a while now – ever since I worked out where I’d seen Steven Yeun (who plays Glenn Rhee) before The Walking Dead, in fact!

Has anyone ever considered the fact that Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) from CBS’s The Big Bang Theory may have caused the zombie apocalypse in AMC’s The Walking Dead?

Seriously. I think I might be onto something here. Let’s take a look at the facts:

• In Season 3, Episode 22 (entitled The Staircase Implementation) of The Big Bang Theory, we are introduced to a character who is only known as Sebastian in the credits. That person, however, is Steven Yeun. This episode revolves around the Roommate Agreement between Sheldon and Leonard (Johnny Galecki). In a flashback we are introduced to how Leonard first became Sheldon’s roommate. As Leonard is entering the apartment building he stops a guy (Steven Yeun) and asks for directions to Sheldon Cooper’s apartment. Steven Yeun replies with:

“Run away dude … Run fast, run far.”

Trust me, there are no zombie experiments in this box…

So apparently Sheldon is really that bad of a roommate…

• Now, imagine if Steven Yeun’s TBBT character worked in a pizza shop? What if he transferred from the Pasadena, California store to one in Atlanta? Remember Glenn was first introduced in The Walking Dead as a pizza guy.
• But would Sheldon room with a mere pizza guy? Hell NO he wouldn’t! Most likely he would share an apartment with someone who was intellectually stimulating. So what if Steven’s character was working in a pizza shop to pay his way through college? Could Steven’s character be a genetic engineer in the making but became unhinged after having to live under the same roof as Sheldon?
• Or perhaps he was supplementing his income while waiting for a grant at the university where Sheldon works? After all, in this episode, one of the questions Sheldon asks Leonard when he first applies for the room is whether he drives to the university and whether he would be prepared to also drive Sheldon there. These questions imply that he has a preference to living with people who work where he does in order to make his (non-driving) life easier.
• Then we see this image further on in the episode:

 

Is that red paint or walker infected blood? Nothing screams mad scientist like painting threatening messages on walls…

• So, okay, there’s not a lot to go on. But there is another thing I’d like to bring to your attention. In an earlier episode of Season 3 (Episode 15, entitled The Large Hadron Collision) The following conversation happens:

Sheldon: Afraid not. Do you recognize this?

Leonard: Not the roommate agreement.

Sheldon: Indeed, the roommate agreement. I call your attention to the Friendship Rider in Appendix C, Future Commitments. Number 37, in the event one friend is ever invited to visit the Large Hadron Collider, now under construction in Switzerland, he shall invite the other friend to accompany him.

Leonard: Oh, for God’s sakes.

Penny: You actually put that in an agreement?

Leonard: Yeah. We also put in what happens if one of us wins a MacArthur Grant, or if one of us gets superpowers, or if one of us is bitten by a zombie.

Sheldon: He can’t kill me, even if I turn.

So if Sheldon was infected with some random experiment Steven Yeun’s character had concocted during his stay in Sheldon’s apartment and he turned into a zombie, Leonard isn’t allowed to kill him. Sheldon would fester, maybe eat Leonard’s brains and then escape into the broader community of California.

And that, my friends, is possibly how the walker infection in The Walking Dead spread beyond containment.

Finally, it seems I am not the first person to ponder this scenario. You can read some TBBT/TWD/Glenn Rhee crossover fan fiction by clicking here.

Sources: CBS – The Big Bang Theory Season 3 (Episodes 15 & 22)

The Big Bang Theory Transcripts – Series 3 Episode 15 – The Large Hadron Collision

FanFiction.Net – Surviving the Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse by mysteriouslife

(Photo Credits: Conspiracy Keanu, CBS, AMC)