Why did Ramona return to The Big Bang Theory in Season 10? Reasons explored

Ramona Nowitzki made only brief appearances in The Big Bang Theory, but the character is still remembered for the impact she had on the overall narrative. Played by Riki Lindhome, Ramona first appeared in the show in Season 2, when she worked as Sheldon's assistant.

But after Sheldon refused to give her credit for the work, the postdoctoral researcher left the scene. Then, for eight years, there was no sight of Ramona in the show, but she returned in the Season 10 finale. Considering the long gap between her two appearances, fans were surprised by her comeback.

The series’ creators later revealed that Ramona was brought back to The Big Bang Theory in Season 10 for a very specific reason: they wanted Sheldon to finally take the next step in his relationship with Amy. Ramona’s romantic advances toward Sheldon made the latter realize his true feelings for Amy, and he ended up proposing to her.

Ramona was brought back in The Big Bang Theory Season 10 to bring Sheldon and Amy closer together

Ramona made her debut in The Big Bang Theory Season 2 Episode 6, The Cooper–Nowitzki Theorem. She was a researcher who began working as Sheldon Cooper’s assistant at Caltech.

However, she soon developed a crush on him and also started interfering in his personal life. But Sheldon finally decided to keep her at bay when she wanted to name their thesis The Cooper–Nowitzki Theorem.

Following her exit from the show, Ramona started working at CERN in Switzerland and returned in The Big Bang Theory Season 10 finale to once again join Caltech University as a researcher. This time around, she was more open about her feelings toward Sheldon, while he tried to figure out how to maintain his long-distance relationship with Amy.

When Sheldon asked Ramona if she had feelings for him, she kissed him. But Sheldon backed off and realized what he actually wanted. He rushed to the airport, caught a flight, reached Amy’s place, and went down on one knee to propose marriage.

Around the time of the episode’s release in 2017, showrunner Steven Molaro talked about Ramona’s return in an interview with TV Guide. He said that the writers wanted to explore how Sheldon’s life would be affected if another woman approached him in Amy’s absence:

“One of the things we thought could be interesting based on that was what would happen if another woman came along while Amy was gone, and what would that do to Sheldon as well as his group of friends.”

Molaro added that the team had loved Riki Lindhome’s portrayal of Ramona in The Big Bang Theory Season 2 and was happy to know that she was available to reprise her role in Season 10:

“And then once we had that thought, what if another woman comes sniffing around after Sheldon, the next question was who would that woman be? And we had always loved when Riki played Ramona in season 2, so we quickly called her to see if she was available, and she was, and it happened very quickly after that. Everything fell into place. We love her.”

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Hence, Ramona essentially triggered a new phase in Sheldon and Amy’s relationship, as the two decided to get married. The character made her final appearance in Season 11 Episode 1, where Amy thanked her for acting as a catalyst for Sheldon’s proposal.

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