Wil Wheaton

Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972, Burbank, California) (Playing Himself) serves as a minor but pivotal antagonist in the third season and is generaly portrayed as a darker version of himself. He first appeared in "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary" as he enters a card game tournament (Mystic Warlords of Ka'a) with Stuart and playing against Sheldon and Raj. Sheldon only joined because he wanted to confront him over an incident of the past: a young 15 yr. old Sheldon was devastated when Wheaton (Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation) failed to show up at the '95 Dixie Trek convention in Jackson, Mississippi around 1995 (it is revealed in "The Russian Rocket Reaction" that it was because Wil thought it was cooler to be a guest star on Hollywood Squares (sitting in the lower left-hand corner)). In the final match, Sheldon is about to defeat his hated rival, but Wheaton tricks him once more by telling Sheldon his grandmother had died shortly before the convention and prevails. It is revealed that this was a scam to win and upon losing, Sheldon tenses up and screams angrily, "WHEATON!". Wil Wheaton reappears in the episode "The Wheaton Recurrence", where he breaks up Leonard and Penny's relationship in order to win a bowling competition against the main characters, as Leonard and Penny were already having issues because of Leonard's premature "I Love You". This causes Sheldon, Leonard, Raj and Howard to dress as super-heroines and super-villians. Sheldon names his team 'The Wesley Crushers', implying they will crush Wesley, who was Wheaton's character in Star Trek, however most interpret it as Sheldon naming the team after Wesley Crusher because they are fans of him.

Wheaton appears again on "The 21-Second Excitation", Sheldon and his friends form in a big line to enter the cinema, then Wheaton comes with Lonely Larry and Captain Sweatpants and enters the cinema without doing the line because of his celebrity status, causing Sheldon and friends to not be able to enter the movies. Sheldon then steals the movie from the projection booth and the gang gets chased by him and the movie goers.

In "The Russian Rocket Reaction" Wheaton invites Leonard and Sheldon to a party at his house. Leonard intends to go with Raj and Howard (until he tells everyone that he got offered to go into space), leaving Sheldon feeling betrayed by this. However, he has a change of heart when he finds out that Brent "Data" Spiner will be attending. At the party, Wheaton gives Sheldon the gift that he had always been waiting for, a signed, mint-condition Wesley Crusher action figure, saying, "To Sheldon, sorry it took so long, Wil Wheaton." Sheldon immediately forgives him and gives him a hug. However, Brent Spiner comes along and sees the action figure. He opens it. Sheldon then announces that Spiner is now his mortal enemy instead of Wheaton.

Wil Wheaton appeared again in "The Stag Convergence" as a guest at Howard's bachelor party. He almost ruins (albeit inadvertently) Howard and Bernadette's relationship when he records Raj's drunken toast (which reveals embarrassing details of Howard's sordid sexual past) and posts it on YouTube, where it's viewed by Bernadette. She nearly calls off the wedding until Howard makes an emotional plea, saying that he's no longer that person and that it's all because of her, and she forgives him (even though she's still mad at him for not telling her about his past).

In the episode "The Habitation Configuration" we see the front Wil Wheaton's fictional home. The house number is 1701 which is likely a reference to his time spent on Star Trek: The Next Generation with the USS Enterprise's registry number being NCC-1701-D.