Night Court’s Melissa Rauch On Surreal Feeling Of Reuniting With Fellow Big Bang Theory Alum Kunal Nayyar And Whether He’ll Return To The Show

melissa rauch and kunal nayyar on night court season 2
(Image credit: NBC)

Melissa Rauch has been on quite the roll in her career over the past several years. Not only did the actress/producer land a major part as Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz on the long-running hit The Big Bang Theory, which she played for 10 years through the comedy’s finale in 2019, but she quickly decided to make launching a Night Court revival her next project, and has hit pay dirt again by executive producing and starring on the Emmy-winning sitcom. Now, she’s opened up about the surreal feeling of reuniting with fellow TBBT alum Kunal Nayyar, and whether or not he’ll return to the series.

What Did Night Court’s Melissa Rauch Say About Working With Kunal Nayyar Again And His Possible Return?

Ten years is a long time to work with someone, but it’s been five years since Melissa Rauch and Kunal Nayyar worked with each other. She’s already shared how all of The Big Bang Theory buddies are “always in each other’s hearts,” and recently spoke about reuniting with her former co-star, telling TV Insider:

We just had the most fun together. … We just kept on staring at each other all week [during filming] and looking into each other’s eyes like, is this real? Are you really here? Of course, we hadn’t been on set together since Big Bang ended, and it was just so wonderful and it felt like just family.

Fans of the star’s previous comedy will know that Rauch’s Bernadette and Nayyar’s Raj were simply good friends on TBBT, but Night Court went in a totally different direction by having her Abby form a romantic connection with Martini, his charming fashion designer. While it was too soon for this potential couple to have their happily ever after, the famous designer did leave Abby (and fans) with hope that he would return at some point. 

Of course, Rauch has also been bringing back some past Night Court actors where possible (like Marsha Warfield, who wishes former star Harry Anderson could watch the new show), and co-stars along with John Larroquette, who reprises his Emmy-winning role of Dan Fielding and admitted to some feelings of “sadness” at filming the revival when so many of his former co-stars have passed away. 

The actress has also noted how working with Larroquette (who also executive produces), is one of the things that led to her deciding to pull double duty on the sitcom by also portraying Abby, adding that it’s been “a dream come true” to work with him in front of and behind the cameras. So, it sounds like she’s already forming a new work family in the cast and crew of her sophmore series, and she also talked about what it was like for Nayyar to come into that environment, saying:

[It was] very much like my boyfriend meeting my family. Although I don’t know if the boyfriend’s Kunal or John, but, either way, it just felt like a meeting of families and it was really wonderful. It was a really special week, and I can’t wait for him to come back.

Though there are currently no plans for TBBT star to return right now, something tells me that fans will eventually get more from this Martabby (Abbtini?) pairing, especially if Night Court is renewed for Season 3.

Adrienne Jones
Senior Content Creator

Covering The Witcher, Outlander, Virgin River, Sweet Magnolias and a slew of other streaming shows, Adrienne Jones is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend, and started in the fall of 2015. In addition to writing and editing stories on a variety of different topics, she also spends her work days trying to find new ways to write about the many romantic entanglements that fictional characters find themselves in on TV shows. She graduated from Mizzou with a degree in Photojournalism.