Young Sheldon ended its seven-season run earlier in the month with a one-hour special series finale which cumulated the journey of childhood of the boy genius, Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage), bringing it to a close. A kid with a mind many adults could only wish for, Sheldon Cooper is on his way to Caltech to further his studies as a 14-year-old kid. Prior to his move to Pasadena, California, Sheldon, along with the rest of his family, had been rocked by the death of the family patriarch, George Cooper (Lance Barber). His passing engineered a heightened sense of religious faith in his wife, and Sheldon’s mom, Mary (Zoe Perry). Fearing for the eternal destination of the souls of her twin kids, Mary tries to get Sheldon and Missy (Raegan Revord) baptized. This plot arc is a reference to the show’s pilot episode, according to executive producer Steve Holland.
Discussing the arc with Variety, Holland explains that the roots of the exceedingly religious Mary Cooper (Laurie Metcalf) we encounter in The Big Bang Theory were sown in the aftermath of George’s death, and the final portions of Young Sheldon. He explained:
“We were talking about after the funeral what happens. We know from “Big Bang Theory” that Mary [then played by Laurie Metcalf, who is the real-life mother to Zoe Perry] is even more religious than her younger self, who was already pretty religious. So it felt like after the funeral, it would be very natural for Mary to throw herself into church even more. And that was sort of the beginning of her road to “Big Bang Theory” Mary. When we were talking about what could happen in the episode involving Sheldon getting ready to go [to Caltech], it felt really real that Mary was dragging her kids to church and in the wake of George Sr.’s death, was really worrying about their souls and their family.”
With her husband passing, Mary is convinced that hell is where her children are headed if they don’t get baptized. In YoungSheldon season 7, episode 14, titled “Memoir,” Sheldon surprisingly indulges his mother despite his atheistic views and Missy backs out at the last minute. Holland explains its significance to the series pilot, saying:
“And Connor Kilpatrick, one of our writers, had pitched that, because in the Baptist church you don’t get baptized until you’re a teenager and can choose it for yourself. That would be very important to Mary especially before she sent Sheldon off to college knowing that his soul was safe. It felt like a really believable drive to her. It felt like it gave you a moment at the end where Sheldon could echo the pilot or the early episodes where he said, “I don’t believe in God, but I do believe in you.” And Missy’s anger and disillusionment at Dad dying, leaving her in a slightly more broken place, which is also a thing we know is true from “Big Bang Theory.”
Don’t Expect A Teenage ‘Young Sheldon’ Series
Sheldon’s decision to obey his mother despite his own personal convictions, feeds in nicely into the relationship we see the pair share in the original series. While it might have been interesting to see the relationship between the pair evolve even further in a prequel series focused on Sheldon’s early years at Caltech. Series executive producer Steve Molaro has revealed that it’s not something that interests him. “And a show called Young Sheldon, where he’s in California now and everyone picking up the pieces of the loss of George,” Molaro explained. “It wasn’t something we felt like we could just jump in or overflowing with ideas we were excited about. I would not have been comfortable digging in on Sheldon at CalTech. Now it’s really trying to be a weird pre-Big Bang. That doesn’t get me excited. Like, there’s the cafeteria set, but he hasn’t met Leonard yet. I don’t know. Weird.”
