The Big Bang Theory waved goodbye to its fans in 2019, but Jim Parsons’ Sheldon Cooper retained the spotlight. The CBS show’s spinoff series, Young Sheldon, has had Jim Parsons as the narrator since its premiere in 2017. However, the Emmy-winning actor has never physically appeared on the show until now. But now Parsons is set to reprise his role as Sheldon Cooper in Young Sheldon’s season finale in May.
This will be the first time viewers watch Parson and Young Sheldon star Iain Armitage share the stage. In the finale, Mayim Bialik will reprise her role as Sheldon’s wife, Amy Farrah Fowler. On the latest episode of Today, Jim Parsons opened up about finally featuring in the spinoff as a “beautiful” and “weird” experience.
Jim Parsons’ final stint as Sheldon Cooper
Talking to host Craig Melvin on Friday, the 51-year-old star said, “Big Bang Theory was always a live show, and Young Sheldon is a single-camera show.” Besides, Parsons felt blessed to have his costar of 15 years, Mayim Bialik, accompanying him on the sets of Young Sheldon.
“I got to do it with Mayim [Bialik] — we both played Sheldon and Amy in the series. And to do it in that situation, it was just different enough that it wasn’t creepy. Instead, it was really sweet,” the Spoiler Alert star added.
Summing up his experience in Sheldon's adolescent reality, Parsons noted, "It felt like the nicest little coda to the whole experience, and I was grateful that they asked us to do it." Undoubtedly, the collaboration is nothing short of iconic. Additionally, Parsons and Bialik will star as the hilarious and socially awkward geniuses one last time.
After seven successful seasons, Young Sheldon will air its final episode on May 16. Creators Chuck Lorre and Steven Molaro saw it as the perfect opportunity to invite the titular Sheldon Cooper, Parson to feature in Armitage's world and baffle fans with the two realities converging.
However, The Big Bang Theory franchise will expand with another spinoff series of Young Sheldon that will delve into the lives of Georgie Cooper's Montana Jordan and Emily Osment's Mandy raising their family in Texas.
Jim Parsons picked Ian Armitage as his mini-me
Jim Parsons served as the executive producer and narrator of the 2017 spinoff, Young Sheldon. Therefore, he was involved with the auditions for the part. In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Parsons revealed, "They wrote the most trial-by-fire, two-page monologue, and all these kids were coming in with it, and they were all really good. But Iain, when his tape came in, it was mind-blowing, and I thought, 'he looks really young, but he must be 13 to be able to do this' – but he was 8."
Armitage, 15, had already wowed fans with his character in the Emmy-nominated series Big Little Lies. "He is such a man-child. He thinks like a man. He's fantastic. I didn't think I was very good with kids, but I'm fine with him. He's such a sweet kid, too," Parsons added.
Eventually, the two Sheldons bonded with Armitage, bringing an unusual but Sheldon-approved wedding gift for Parsons, an ant farm.
