Jim Parsons Says Reprising His Big Bang Theory Role for Young Sheldon Finale Was ‘a Gift’ (Exclusive)

For Jim Parsons, playing Sheldon Cooper is the gift that keeps on giving.

The actor — who played The Big Bang Theory’s lovable, geeky lead for 12 seasons from 2007 to 2019 — is stepping back into his shoes for the May 16 series finale of the spinoff series Young Sheldon, which he says he’s honored to do.

Speaking with PEOPLE ahead of the 2024 Tony Awards — where he is up for best performance by an actor in a featured role in a play for his role in Mother Play — Parsons, 51, said reprising the role, particularly alongside former costar Mayim Bialik, was “really special, actually.”

Parsons, who is an executive producer and narrator for Young Sheldon, was at peace with his off-screen-only role in the Big Bang Theory spinoff, but the way the finale was written changed his mind entirely, he said.

“I felt a slight hesitancy when they first asked, just as I thought, I don’t really want to go revisit the character,” he told PEOPLE. “But the way that they wrote it in was I thought so beautiful that it ended up being like this little extra coda or whatever to my experience with the character.”

“It was this gift of a second layer of losing it out in a way that I had never seen coming, and it was a real treat,” he added.

When asked if he has any advice for 15-year-old Iain Armitage, who has portrayed Sheldon’s younger iteration since he was 9, Parsons said, “Oh God, no.”

“It’s such a different experience for him, and he’s so smart. He doesn’t need any,” the Hidden Figures actor continued. “He’s got good guidance. He and his mother, they’re just fantastic.”

“So, he’ll be fine. God knows what he’ll do,” Parsons said, adding, “He could do anything.”

Reflecting on what lies ahead, Armitage (who first auditioned for Young Sheldon at 8) told PEOPLE he wants to take on a project that is the “exact opposite end of the spectrum” of his role on the period sitcom.

“It’s funny, because I’ve had so much fun getting to do this character for seven awesome years that it would be cool to do something … just completely different from Sheldon in every way,” he told PEOPLE.

Whether it’s an action, sci-fi or drama project, he just wants to do “something super different and weird.”

And, in a video from the set of the sitcom’s finale shared with PEOPLE, both Sheldons reflected on the first time they crossed paths as Armitage was getting his footing on Young Sheldon.

“It’s pretty crazy to watch old episodes of my voice sound so high and I’m so little,” said Armitage.

“He was so arrestingly charming,” Parsons added of the teen actor. “Immediately [you] just couldn’t take your eyes off.”