“The Big Bang Theory” is all about family — mostly the sort you choose, not the kind you’re born with. Ergo, it’s not surprising that during the show’s series finale, “The Stockholm Syndrome,” the entire gang flies to Sweden with Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) and Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik) to watch the twosome accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Physics. While Sheldon has a climactic breakthrough mid-speech and realizes that he cares deeply about his friends, thanking them for standing by him for so many years, it’s hard not to notice that none of his biological family members have managed to make the journey overseas to cheer him on.
The most egregious absence is that of Mary Cooper (Laurie Metcalf), who has long supported Sheldon through the ups and downs of life. Multiple fans posting to “The Big Bang Theory” subreddit couldn’t help but point out that Mary’s absence made no sense since the two characters are very close, and she’s supported him through his ups and downs throughout the show’s run. “I thought it was completely ridiculous that he flew his 5 friends over to Stockholm and not his mom,” said u/magikarpcatcher. Another Redditor, u/alex_dlc, agreed. “Yeah, I expected his whole family to be there to tie in with Young Sheldon,” they wrote. But there was an excellent reason why Laurie Metcalf missed the sitcom’s final bow.
Laurie Metcalf was busy on Broadway when The Big Bang Theory wrapped
There’s one good reason why Mary Cooper doesn’t show up in the series finale for “The Big Bang Theory” — the actress who plays her, Laurie Metcalf, had just taken on a stage role on Broadway. Metcalf was in the middle of portraying Hillary Clinton in “Hillary and Clinton” when “The Stockholm Syndrome” was shot on April 30, 2019. The play had opened on April 18 and wouldn’t close until June of that year, which may have forced the show’s writers to leave Mary out of the picture, no matter how close the relationship between mother and son is.
Even though she missed out on taking part in “The Stockholm Syndrome,” Metcalf’s legacy within the “Big Bang Theory” universe has carried on in quite an unusual way; that’s her daughter, Zoe Perry, playing Mary in “Young Sheldon.” Perry told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017 that she does try to emulate her mother’s version of Mary while playing her in the sitcom. “When I’m reading any script and working on it and what I’m doing sounds like her, I think it’s probably worth keeping,” she admitted. That’s one good way to keep an actor’s legacy alive.
