After seven seasons of laughs, tough times and a lot of familial ups and downs, Young Sheldon finally gave fans its swan song on May 16, 2024. The revealing hour-long finale was already going to be difficult on viewers and the comedy’s cast and crew alike, but it was made especially hard after the previous reveal that all fans of The Big Bang Theory knew was coming: the powerful death of Sheldon’s dad, George Cooper, Sr (played by Lance Barber). Star Iain Armitage now says that George’s death didn’t hit him how he “expected” it to, and he’s explained how it really did feel to film those heartbreaking scenes.
What Did Young Sheldon’s Iain Armitage Say About Filming The Scenes Regarding George’s Death?
Because of The Big Bang Theory, we went into Young Sheldon knowing about some things about the little genius, his childhood, and family because of what had already been set up on the parent series by adult Sheldon. One of the things we were told on TBBT is that the character’s dad died when he was 14, prior to him heading off to CalTech, and the family sitcom did have to deliver on that, as both points were given as solid reasons to conclude the spinoff after Season 7.
Iain Armitage (who took over as the child version of the stubborn character after Jim Parsons’ portrayal of him on TBBT) recently admitted in a chat with the Los Angeles Times that he didn’t get emotional filming the aftermath of George’s death in the way he thought he would, and said:
It was interesting the way it hit me because it wasn’t how I expected. I expected to be sad or kind of touched by how long we’ve gotten to know this character. But for me, it’s less about George and more about Lance. Lance is such a wonderful guy. It was more hard having him not be on set for the finale for certain scenes. We had that dinner scene without him. He brings such a light to the set ... and he’s got such a big personality.
Awww! It’s been pretty clear from early on that the cast became quite close, with Armitage calling his co-stars “family” once news came out about the series coming to an end. Raegan Revord (who played Sheldon’s twin sister, Missy), meanwhile, noted that she was warned about George’s death at some point in Season 1 by her parents, after they saw how “immediately close” she and the rest of the cast were.
So, it does make a lot of sense that the child star would have anticipated being “sad” about losing the character, but not really realize how hard it would be to have to continue the show (even only briefly) without the man who played his on-screen dad. He continued:
In the scene where the family gets the news that George has died, I was very impressed with myself that I managed to keep my cool because everyone was crying. It was very hard. We love Lance so much. He made it better; he was on set that day and for one of the rehearsals, he peeked in through the window. He had a very fun time with his own death. It was interesting because, for one of the takes, I tried to sink down the chair and not quite cry, but start to get emotional, and Steve Molaro very quickly was like, ‘No, don’t. Not even second. It’s almost more heartbreaking if we don’t see any emotion on your face. You’re completely lost.’
Even though long-time fans knew we were being led toward this sad event, we didn’t know at all how it would go down until we saw it unfold the week prior to the finale, in the episode "A New Home and a Traditional Texas Torture." That installment started off normally enough, only for the end to see two of George’s friends/co-workers knock on the Cooper family door to reveal that the patriarch had died of a heart attack sometime during the work day, at which point everyone begins sobbing…except for Sheldon. About how he was told to play the scene, Armitage said:
When I watched the replay on the monitors at video village, where the writers sit, I instantly saw what he meant. There was one take where I did it the way he wanted; I think he [Steve] started crying a little bit. I understood it after seeing it.
It really was a very powerful scene, seeing as how we all know that Sheldon doesn’t typically process emotions or events the way that most of those around him do. Luckily, the difficulties of filming without Barber were mitigated by the actor making some appearances on set after George died, including wearing a disguise to portray a mourner at his own character’s funeral!
