Young Sheldon has strapped on its Flash ring and is zooming straight ahead for its series finale, as the CBS dramedy is one of many shows ending in 2024, though thankfully with the caveat that a George and Mandy spinoff is coming to continue to Cooper family’s TV journey. Even more exciting for Big Bang Theory fans is the impending series finale reunion between Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik. Although I must say, the elder Sheldon actor’s latest comments about his character’s return really do make this feel like the last time we’ll see him.
Young Sheldon’s series finale airdate is currently set as May 16, but don’t expect to go crashing the set to catch a glimpse of Parsons and Bialik’s respective returns, because it sounds like they were already filmed. The former appeared on NBC’s Today along with his co-stars in the Broadway drama Mother, Jessica Lange and Celia Keenan-Bolger, and when he was asked about jumping back into the Big Bang-verse, he first echoed previous thoughts about it being a weird, but still positive, experience portraying Sheldon in a single-camera production. In his words:
Very weird. Also, very beautiful. Big Bang Theory was always a live audience show, and Young Sheldon is a single-camera show. And I got to do it with Mayim [Bialik] — we both played Sheldon and Amy from the series. And to do it in that situation, it was just different enough that it wasn’t creepy, like going like, ‘What are we doing here again?’ Instead, it was really sweet.
I can now too easily picture a nightmare situation where Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik walk onto a soundstage with a studio audience full of characters from the horror movie Smile. That would probably slot under the classification of “very weird.” Especially if they all happened to look like Kevn Sussman’s Stuart.
In any case, it was Parsons’ next thought that really drove home the idea that this could truly be the final time audiences get to see the actor embodying the role of Sheldon Cooper. Here’s how he put it:
It felt like the nicest little coda to the whole experience. And I was very grateful that they asked us to do it.
I think it's the use of the words "nice little coda" that do it. Because nobody says the word "coda" to imply that there's more of something on the way. It exclusively implies an ending, a finality, a swan song for this oddball duckling. I can't imagine he would have called it that had he been in early talks to possibly bring Sheldon back for the George and Mandy spinoff, or any other potential avenues within this world.
Had Parsons worded things more open-endedly or vaguely — in the sense of "It was great to get back into the role, " or "I always enjoy dusting off the old Sheldon vibes" or whatever — it could have left a mental door open for fans to consider a future in which CBS orders up Old Man Sheldon, where he and Hugh Jackman's Logan...wait, no, that wouldn't work.
Though Jim Parsons has lent his vocal talents to Young Sheldon since the spinoff began, with Mayim Bialik also teaming up for a past voiceover cameo, this will be the first time the two actors will appear in person on the series. We're also hoping to see some Reba McEntire, a dream guest star for executive producer Steve Holland, but that may not be so likely.
Will Young Sheldon give Sheldon and Amy a good ending, or will it end things in a somewhat open way that actually could allow for Jim Parsons to return? We'll have to wait and see how the creative team plays it when the CBS dramedy wraps up its six-season run.
Young Sheldon airs Thursday nights on CBS at 8:00 p.m. ET. Check out the 2024 TV schedule to see what summer hits will be around after Sheldon bows out.
