Young Sheldon

Young Sheldon is an American prequel sitcom series to The Big Bang Theory created by Chuck Lorre and Steven Molaro. Its pilot episode debuted as a sneak preview on September 25, 2017, and it began airing after The Big Bang Theory on CBS on Thursdays, November 2, 2017 and ended with its seventh season on May 16, 2024.

Plot

The series follows The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper at the age of 9, living with his family in East Texas and going to school. It takes place in the late 1980s and early 1990s where Sheldon struggles to fit into the world around him while his family and friends attempt to deal with his talents as well as his challenges.

Overview

Jon Favreau directed and executive produced the first episode of the series, which stars Iain Armitage as 9-year-old Sheldon Cooper, as well as Zoe Perry, Lance Barber, Raegan Revord and Montana Jordan.

Chuck Lorre, Steven Molaro, Jim Parsons and Todd Spiewak serve as executive producers of the series, from Chuck Lorre Productions, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Jim Parsons narrates as the adult Sheldon.

Zoe Perry was cast as a younger version of Mary Cooper on Young Sheldon. She is the daughter of Laurie Metcalf, who played Mary Cooper on The Big Bang Theory. Despite her family link to the character, Zoe received the role through an audition, which was likely due to not wishing to just rush into taking someone and seeing if they were fit.

This show was filming in single camera.

The trailer shows how Sheldon Cooper became who he is. As a kid, he was the same obnoxious, overly honest, and misunderstood character we know. Sheldon was watching Professor Proton when he was a kid and was his inspiration to become a scientist.

Sheldon Cooper's timeline on the show starts from the fall of 1989, when he started high school at age 9. Sheldon wouldn't start college until two years later, and he wouldn't leave for Caltech until 1994.

Main Cast

• Iain Armitage as Young Sheldon Cooper
  • Jim Parsons as the voice of adult Sheldon Cooper
• Zoe Perry as Young Mary Cooper
• Lance Barber as George Cooper Sr.
• Raegan Revord as Young Missy Cooper
• Montana Jordan as Young George Cooper Jr.
• Annie Potts as Young Meemaw
• Matt Hobby as Jeff Difford (seasons 3-7)
• Wyatt McClure as Billy Sparks (seasons 5-7)
• Emily Osment as Mandy McAllister (seasons 6-7)

Episodes

Main article: List of Young Sheldon episodes

	Season	Episodes	Season Premiere	Season Finale
	1	22	September 25, 2017	May 10, 2018
	2	22	September 24, 2018	May 16, 2019
	3	21	September 26, 2019	April 30, 2020
	4	18	November 5, 2020	May 13, 2021
	5	22	October 7, 2021	May 19, 2022
	6	22	September 29, 2022	May 18, 2023
	7	14	February 15, 2024	May 16, 2024

Timeline

1. 1989-1990: Season 1 takes place
2. 1990-1991: Season 2 takes place
3. 1991: Season 3 takes place
4. 1991-1992: Season 4 takes place
5. 1992: Season 5 takes place
6. 1992-1993: Season 6 takes place
7. 1993-1994: Season 7 takes place

Production

On January 6, 2018, the show was renewed for a second season, which premiered on September 24, 2018. It was renewed again for a third and fourth season by CBS on February 22, 2019. The fourth season premiered on November 5, 2020.

On March 30, 2021, CBS renewed the series for three seasons, running throughout the 2023–2024 season. The fifth season premiered on October 7, 2021. The sixth season premiered on September 29, 2022. The seventh season was announced as the final season on November 14, 2023 and premiered on February 15, 2024 and concluded on May 16, 2024.

Trivia

• A sneak preview aired on September 25, 2017, at 8:30 p.m.
• Since Sheldon was born on February 26, 1980, and the series follows Sheldon at age 9 that means the series takes place starting in 1989.
• It's shown in the first trailer that it does take place in 1989.
• In real life, Jim Parsons was the around the same age as the high schoolers Sheldon went to school with.
• This show features the first on screen appearances of Sheldon's father, George Cooper Sr. and older brother George Cooper Jr.
• This show is an alternative to Malcolm In The Middle.
• It was picked up for a full season on September 25, 2017.
• This is the first time we get to see two shows with an adult Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon.
• Kid versions of the Social Group appeared in the season 2 finale. Stuart, however, was absent and if he did appear, he would've been a teen.
• The Big Bang Theory Caltech Cafeteria appeared in Young Sheldon season 3.
• It has many references to The Big Bang Theory.
• Young Sheldon holds lots of similarities to the arguably much more popular American sitcom Everybody Hates Chris in that they revolve on the unfortunate childhoods of celebrities with their older selves narrating. Both series would hold 22 episodes per season though Young Sheldon was shortened to 21 episodes in Season 3 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and they both have series starting with some certain word at the start except for Young Sheldon debut. As for season 4, when the Coronavirus was still strong in the U.S., the season was shortened to 18 episodes. And finally, as for Season 7, it was shortened to 14 episodes after a long delay due to actors' strike and is the last season of the series. As for Leonard, Penny, Howard, and Raj, etc., if they were to also receive spin-off shows, they would likely also be similar to Everybody Hates Chris.
• Off-network syndication of Young Sheldon begun on local stations and on the cable channel TBS on September 27, 2021.
• Some of the cast members from the Big Bang Theory has voiced over on a few episodes, Simon Helberg as Howard Wolowitz in "An Introduction to Engineering and a Glob of Hair Gel", and Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler in two episodes and actually appearing in one alongside Jim Parsons as the Adult version of Sheldon, Mayim has voiced over in "Graduation" and "A Suitcase Full of Cash and a Yellow Clown Car".

External links

• Young Sheldon on Television Fandom
• Young Sheldon on Wikipedia