Young Sheldon’s Lance Barber and Zoe Perry Discuss ‘Grounding’ George Sr., Replacing ‘Mom’ in Big Bang Prequel
Being cast as Young Sheldon‘s Mary Cooper was not the first time that Zoe Perry had been tapped to play a younger version of a role originated by her mother. As a kid, she appeared as pint-sized Jackie Harris on ABC’s Roseanne.
Yet when she auditioned as an adult to succeed Metcalf in the Big Bang Theory universe, she found herself of two minds. “I had such a privileged position going into that audition, and was so honored that I was offered the opportunity to audition,” Perry tells TVLine. “I probably was a little nervous just in the way of comparisons.
“You know, my mom is not known as a hack,” she says with a laugh. “She’s a very well-respected actor. Also, even though she would only pop in and out, [Mary] had become kind of beloved on [Big Bang], so I definitely felt like there were some big shoes to fill.”
Perry’s TV husband, Lance Barber, found himself in a very different position. He would originate the role of George Sr., who had already been dead for more than a decade in Big Bang’s timeline when it premiered in 2007. For the next 10 seasons, we heard stories about the Cooper family patriarch — some not-so-great stories — but for all intents and purposes, this was a new character created for Young Sheldon.
“I knew that he was described as a redneck Homer Simpson,” Barber, who previously appeared on Big Bang not as George, but as Leonard’s high school bully Jimmy Speckerman, says in the video above. “The jokes were kind of big, and so there was the challenge of grounding this person and making him a human being, as opposed to a punchline.”
Perry and Barber quickly eased into their roles — their real-life friendship, as evidenced in our multi-part Q&A, most certainly helped — and they would spend the next seven seasons as Mom and Dad to Sheldon (Iain Armitage), Missy (Raegan Revord) and Georgie (Montana Jordan).
In Part 1 of our discussion, the pair delve further into their start on CBS‘ Big Bang spinoff — which has four episodes remaining, airing Thursday, May 9 and 16, at 8/7c — and reminisce about some of their favorite moments with their TV kids.
I came to the party !ate, but I’m glad I came. Young Sheldon is a very funny show with a tremendously talented cast. I’m going to miss them. Hope a few of them pop in to the new series as I couldn’t imagine Georgie being without his mom, sister or MeeMaw.
Love these two!
I have loved this growing TV family. Really hated to read no more young Sheldon. SO I am very happy to read a spin off with Georgie and Mandy will continue the Cooper family. Well written family lots of live understanding and some drama.
I adore this family and will miss it. I truly hope that George doesn’t die in these final 4 episodes and it happens sometime before the sequel. While Iain Armitage has outgrown Young Sheldon I’m sad that Raegan Revord (Missy) has decided to move on so will probably not show up in the sequel. I’m hoping that the rest of the characters will, especially MeeMaw. The show turned into a true and funny ensemble and was relatable to pretty much everyone. My thanks to everyone for a must see tv show and I wish everyone the best in their futures in front of and behind the cameras. Thursday night is not going to be the same.
I was a fan of The Big Bang Theory and also love Young Sheldon. I was rather surprised how they cramed 3 different George Sr. story arcs into the May 9 Young Sheldon double episode. He had a vasectomy, was offered a job in Houston and then suddenly died. Almost seems like they were expecting another season and had a few scripts ready so used them. But I’m looking forward to the finale and have enjoyed the series.
Cbs should have forgot about the Big bang show, kept George alive and kept the show going.