Johnny Galecki Explains Why Leonard Wears Lensless Glasses In ‘Big Bang Theory’

As Jim Parsons’ Big Bang Theory spin-off looms, and Big Bang Theory fans continue to wait in agony for CBS to reveal whether or not the series is being renewed for Season 11, Johnny Galecki recently opened up about a little behind the scenes magic during an interview with The Huffington Post.

For anyone who has watched all ten seasons of Big Bang Theory, there is one interesting little issue with Johnny Galecki’s character that you may or may not have noticed. While Leonard of Big Bang Theory wears glasses, the glasses are actually lensless. The question is, why? Why are the glasses Johnny Galecki wears while playing Leonard lensless?

Considering the fact that Johnny Galecki had never actually confirmed the glasses Leonard wears are lensless, this was also nothing more than fan speculation at the time.

One of the most common fan theories is simply that Johnny Galecki doesn’t wear glasses in real life, but his character Leonard does. So, they just had him wear lensless glasses as a happy alternative.

The only problem with this popular fan theory is the fact that Johnny Galecki could just wear prop glasses that are not lensless and still see just fine. So, what is the real reason Leonard wears glasses without lenses?

During an interview with The Huffington Post, Johnny Galecki talked about how they rehearsed the first episode of Big Bang Theory for a week before they started filming. He claimed the creators of the show asked him to remove the glasses when they started filming. The creators of the series just assumed Johnny was wearing the glasses as himself during rehearsal all week. They didn’t realize he was actually in the character of Leonard when wearing the glasses.

“Oh, man. You’re killing the magic,” Galecki responded with a bit of a chuckle when the interviewer asked him about the lensless glasses.

“We rehearsed the first episode for about a week and a half, and when we started to shoot, they said, ‘Well, you’re gonna take your glasses off, right?’ I said, ‘No, I want Leonard to wear glasses.’ They said, ‘Oh, we just thought you were wearing them as Johnny for rehearsal all week.'”

Johnny said he ran into a bit of a problem wearing the glasses on set because Jim Parsons was significantly taller than he was. Galecki explained that he had a difficult time wearing the glasses because he had to look up while talking to Jim Parsons and all of the lights created a glare on the glasses that made it impossible for him to see what he was doing.

“I quickly popped out the lenses and that’s the movie magic behind that,” Johnny explained.

During the interview, Johnny Galecki also discussed how he messed up one of the filming takes. He said the cameramen and the producer started laughing and yelled “cut.” At first, Johnny claimed he was a little baffled as he didn’t understand why everyone was laughing. Then, someone clued him in on the fact that he had reached through the frame of his lensless glasses to scratch his eye while they were filming.

The entire interview where Johnny explains why Leonard of Big Bang Theory wears lensless glasses can be watched below.

Did you ever notice that Leonard of Big Bang Theory was wearing glasses that were lensless? Do you think there are other actors and actresses that use this trick when they play the role of a character who wears glasses? More importantly, do you think Big Bang Theory will get renewed for Season 11 or is the CBS series going to be canceled?

[Featured Image by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images]