Thursday’s Young Sheldon (CBS, 8/7c) marks the start of the Big Bang Theory spinoff’s farewell run — and in honor of the final season premiere, TVLine is looking back at how the Cooper children (played by Iain Armitage, Raegan Revord and Montana Jordan) have grown from precocious kiddos to young adults in the blink of an eye.
In the Season 7 opener, titled “A Weiner Schnitzel and Underwear in a Tree,” news of the tornado that swept through Medford at the end of Season 6 reaches Sheldon and Mary in Germany. Also, with the Cooper house in chaos, Missy steps up.
SHELDON COOPER
Iain Armitage, 15, was eight-years-old when he was cast as the pint-sized genius. Prior to playing the younger version of Jim Parsons’ Big Bang Theory character, he was best known for his role as Ziggy on HBO’s Big Little Lies.
MISSY COOPER
Raegan Revord, 16, was nine-years-old when she made her debut as Sheldon’s sassy twin sister Missy. The role was originated by Courtney Henggeler (Cobra Kai) in a Season 1 episode of The Big Bang Theory.
GEORGIE COOPER
Montana Jordan, 20, was 14-years-old when he first appeared as Sheldon and Missy’s older brother. Unlike his TV siblings, Jordan had the honor of originating the role of Mary and George’s oldest son, who had not been seen on Big Bang. The mothership eventually cast Jerry O’Connell to fill the part.
BILLY SPARKS
Sheldon spoke of his childhood bully in Seasons 3 and 5 of the mothership. Wyatt McClure, 15, was eight-years-old when the character made his on-screen debut in the Young Sheldon pilot and taunted Sheldon with his pet chicken Mathilda. Since then, however, Billy has been portrayed as more of a nuisance than a tormentor, and hasn’t given the future physicist reason to add him to his all-time enemies list… yet.
TAM NGUYEN
Ryan Phuong, 22, was 15-years-old when he first appeared as Sheldon’s Medford High classmate in Episode 2. He went on to make 29 additional appearances, and was last seen toward the end of Season 4.
PAIGE SWANSON
The already-ubiquitous Mckenna Grace, whose myriad credits include an Emmy-nominated turn on Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, was 12-years-old when she made her first appearance as fellow brainiac Paige in Season 2’s “A Rival Prodigy and Sir Isaac Neutron.” The 17-year-old has since appeared in eight more episodes.
