‘The Big Bang Theory’ Paid Tribute To Stephen Hawking In Unaired Clip

Viewers finally saw Sheldon and Amy get married this week on the final episode of the eleventh season of The Big Bang Theory.

While many were happy to see the characters tie the knot, fans missed out on a beautiful and touching clip that had to be edited out of the final product.

As Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Amy (Mayim Bialik) sit in their apartment, Leonard and Penny come in to hand over some wedding presents. Among the boxes, Amy sees a small black one and discovers it's from the late Stephen Hawking.

It turns out to be a pocket watch with an inscription on the inside that says: "Sheldon, I'm so glad you finally married Amy. It's about time."

Eh, eh - get it! Time. A pocket watch. Need I say more?

Thankfully, the good people at CBS have released the touching clip on social media - which was met with support and criticism.

"It's hard for us to be super timely because we shoot ahead of our airdates so this seemed like a really nice opportunity. The wedding was a big episode and it seemed like a good chance to pay some tribute to him. Steve Molaro had this idea that Hawking could have sent a gift before he passed.

"He had had the idea for the gift and for the inscription and we contacted Professor Hawking's family to get their blessing. They were very nice and excited for us to do it. I'm glad it will be somewhere."

Stephen Hawking is no stranger to the show, first appearing on the episode 'The Hawking Excitation' in season five.

Sheldon pleads with Howard to introduce him to the legendary British scientist, so he can give him his paper on the Higgs Boson Particle. Eventually, his wish comes true and the pair meet, however Professor Hawking says Sheldon made a math mistake on the second page, leading to the lead character fainting.

That episode also had a guest appearance of Leonard Nimoy who played Spock in the Star Trek TV series.

Hawking made several more appearances, one where he came on Skype to wish Sheldon a happy birthday and another where he gave relationship to Parsons' character after he has a fight with Amy.

It's nice to see them pay tribute to the theoretical physicist who has been a central theme of the show since its first episode.