Jim Parsons Talks Reprising His ‘Big Bang Theory’ Role for ‘Young Sheldon’ Series Finale (Exclusive)
Parsons and Mayim Bialik will appear on-screen together for the first time since ‘The Big Bang Theory’ ended in May 2019.
Jim Parsons is opening up about how “beautiful” it was to reprise his Big Bang Theory role as adult Sheldon Cooper for the Young Sheldon series finale.
While speaking with ET’s Rachel Smith about his Broadway project, Mother Play, Parsons shared that, yes, he has already taped his part for the Young Sheldon series finale. He’s reprising his role alongside Mayim Bialik’s Amy Farrah Fowler. Parsons said going back to a familiar role went so much better than he expected.
“It was beautiful. It was even more beautiful than I expected it to be. One of the reasons I was excited to do it is because what they wrote is so sweet and I think they worked Mayim and I into that show so beautifully,” Parsons tells ET. “I hope everyone agrees. But also for us the way that they tape — because they’re a single-camera show and we’re multi-camera — the whole look of the show was a really special experience. To get to go with Mayim, in a world we’re really guests and revisit these characters a little older, just a completely different circumstance.”
When they reprise their roles on Young Sheldon on what will likely be a flash-forward scene, it’ll be the first time Parsons and Bialik reprise their roles and appear on-screen together since The Big Bang Theory ended in May 2019. Parsons said that since leaving the show, everything’s been like “one big wash of a memory, but to go back” it felt different.
“We’re older and we haven’t seen these people,” he says. “It just felt different, but it felt really, really sweet.”
That being said, it took some adjusting. Yes, Parsons has always had a role on Young Sheldon as the narrator. But to act as adult Sheldon Cooper didn’t exactly feel like riding a bike again. At least not at first.
“Well, yes and no. We finished our first read-through, we didn’t tape it. We just went in and felt around the set, and Mayim nailed it when she walked back and said, ‘Uh, I thought I’d feel a lot more confident than this.’ I said, ‘Me, too,'” Parsons admitted. “I really thought it’d be like putting on a pair of old shoes and then eventually it was, but not for about an hour or so. And I was like, ‘Do I still know how to talk like this?’ It was weird.”
When Young Sheldon comes to a close with the season 7 finale in April, fans can expect the Big Bang Theory universe to expand once again, as it’s been reported that CBS ordered a Young Sheldon spinoff series centered around George and Mandy raising their family in Texas. Chuck Lorre, Steven Molaro and Steve Holland are the creators. The trio’s also the brains behind The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon.
“I really think it goes back to the writers,” said Parsons, explaining what makes the shows successful. “They have continuously created such characters that people connect to, that people enjoy watching. It was always the key to our show, that I thought it was a group of people that who each individually were such well-defined deep characters. And it’s the same with Young Sheldon and now they’ve got two more to go with. It’s crazy.”
In the meantime, fans can catch Parsons star opposite two-time Oscar winner Jessica Lange and Tony Award winner Celia Keenan-Bolger in Mother Play, a Broadway feature from Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel. The 1-hour, 30-minute play (no intermission) is directed by Tina Landau, and the play centers around Parsons, Lange and Keenan-Bolger sharing the stage as a dysfunctional but moving family.
Over the years Parsons has had some famous onscreen mothers, and that tradition continues with Lange playing his mother, Phyllis, in Mother Play. He’s her teenage son, Carl. Keenan-Bolger plays the role of Martha, Carl’s sister. Oddly enough, both Lange and Parsons have both worked on various Ryan Murphy projects but, as Parsons tells it, “never run into each other.”
“Oh, it’s beyond surreal. It’s absolutely whacked out of its head,” says Parsons about getting the opportunity to work with Lange. “You just have to keep forgetting that it’s happening and accept it. It’s wonderful. She is she’s just brilliant to work with, but I’ve said this to everyone — she’s so sweet, she’s so kind to everyone. I’ve never heard someone say, ‘Hello and thank you’ to just people all over the place in my life. She’s a very polite lady.”
According to the synopsis, Mother Play takes place on the outskirts of 1962 D.C., where Phyllis is and her teenage children, Martha and Carl, are moving into a new apartment. The teens live under the weight of Phyllis’s very rigid expectations for who they should be. But with the help of gin and cigarettes, they cope with the fact that they’re all changing as the world around them changes, too.
