TV Talk: Producers explain why ‘Young Sheldon’ is ending
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BURBANK, Calif. – “The Big Bang Theory” prequel series “Young Sheldon” (8 p.m. Thursdays, KDKA-TV) will end its seven-season run on CBS in May.
Why now, aside from the economic realities that after a TV series hits its seventh season it’s often a time when actor contracts are up for renewal, which invariably makes a series more expensive?
“There (are) certain things that we know happened in Sheldon’s life when he’s 14, as the character is this season, and we started talking about the future of the show and what it would look like,” said executive producer Steve Holland in February during a visit to the show’s set on Stage 19 at Warner Bros. studios as part of the Television Critics Association winter 2024 press tour. “We know he goes off to Caltech at 14. It just felt like the right time to end the show and to end it strong while it was still on top.”
Long-time “Big Bang” viewers also know Sheldon’s father, George (Lance Barber), dies when Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage) is 14.
“I had fingers crossed from the beginning knowing the history of the character that I would make it to the end whenever that came,” Barber said. “I always felt I had the luxury of being emotionally prepared for this from day one. … To have a character like this who has become, fair to say, somewhat beloved or enjoyed at the very least, to have him have this legacy … and to have a memorable thing happen for this character to be remembered that way is a big deal for me to get to see that to fruition even though it’s what all life brings, you know?”
Barber said he wasn’t worried when the character had a heart attack earlier in the show’s run that it would be his end.
“I never got any inclination that the end was coming any time soon, nor did I fear it,” he said. “And I knew that when and if it did come, it would be done in a beautiful way, and I anticipate that’s what’s going to happen.”
Executive producer Chuck Lorre said ending any TV series isn’t about giving the audience what the show’s writers think viewers want.
“That’s a level of hubris that I think gets in the way of doing a good job,” he said. “You do what feels right. You do what feels appropriate for the characters and the relationships, the tone of the show. You do stuff that touches yourself, and then you hope someone agrees with you.”
One thing we have learned about the May 16 series finale: It will feature Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik reprising their “Big Bang” roles as Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler, presumably in a flash-forward scene.
That “Young Sheldon” ever came to exist was a long shot, Lorre said, given the difficult task of finding a young actor who could embody the younger version of Jim Parsons’ character on “Big Bang.”
“We wouldn’t be sitting here had Iain’s mom not sent us a video of him doing a scene that Steve and I wrote that we never intended to shoot but we just wrote the most difficult scene imaginable for an 8-year-old, and this guy killed it,” Lorre said, gesturing to Armitage. “If that had not happened, we wouldn’t have gone forward. Because the miracle of casting ‘Young Sheldon’ was one we understood was very likely not going to happen. But it did. And then this entire wonderful ensemble, this family, blossomed around him.”
Armitage said he didn’t try to copy Parsons’ mannerisms in “Big Bang” more as he got older, but it may have happened anyway.
“I feel like subconsciously I did,” Armitage said. “In the first season and in the first few episodes especially, Mr. Jim worked really heavily with me to work on the way Sheldon talks and walks. ‘Big Bang’ is certainly not aimed at how old I was at the time so I hadn’t seen a lot of episodes. … Since then, I’ve seen episodes of ‘Big Bang’ and appreciate how wonderful they are and how much awesome work went into them, and I think there are small things that I naturally start to incorporate but I think it’s a fun blend of me and what I’ve learned from Jim Parsons and from Sheldon himself.”
While “Young Sheldon” is coming to an end, some of its characters will live on. Earlier this month CBS gave a series order to a spin-off centered on Sheldon’s brother, Georgie (Montana Jordan), and Georgie’s fiancé, Mandy (Emily Osment, “Hannah Montana”).
Last month Osment said she’s surprised to still be part of “Young Sheldon” because she was initially offered a guest starring role on a single episode in season five.
“It grew so much from there, physically and literally,” she said. “I walked into my trailer one day, and there was a big belly in there [for when Mandy got pregnant]. I am so grateful to see the arc of Mandy becoming such a staunch feminist, standing up for herself, not wanting to take the Cooper name, wanting to be her own person, not forcing Georgie to get married right away, just wanting to not lose her career, wanting to be herself and also raise her baby. That was just written so well. And I’m just very grateful to have joined this cast.”
I remember first meeting Osment, now 32, when I visited the set of a direct-to-DVD/Cartoon Network movie that was filmed in Collier in 2006. When I asked her about it, I got the title wrong (I thought it was “The Witching Hour”) and she quickly got it right: “The Haunting Hour.” (The complete title is actually: “R.L. Stine Presents: The Haunting Hour — Dont Think About It.”)
“We actually shot that during Halloween and I went to one of the coolest haunted houses I’ve ever been to in my life in Pittsburgh,” Osment said. “They rented out, like, an airplane hangar, but other than that I don’t remember much. I was 15!”