‘It’s Always Going To Be About the Story’: ‘Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’ EP Breaks Silence on Lance Barber’s Fate—Is George Sr. Really Gone?

Lance Barber was the latest Young Sheldon actor to appear in the sequel series Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage. Barber reprised his Georgie Sr. character for several dream sequences as Georgie (Montana Jordan) struggled with complicated feelings. While other Young Sheldon characters have the luxury of dropping by when needed, George doesn’t because he died in the final episodes of the show. TV Line talked to executive producer Steve Holland about just how much viewers can anticipate seeing George’s dream sequences now that the door has been opened. Holland revealed that there weren’t immediate plans and that any appearance must serve the story. He contrasted The Big Bang Theory‘s usage of Professor Proton (Bob Newhart) in dreams to George & Mandy’s saying:

“I mean, we love Lance. We love having him on the show. For us, it’s always going to be about the story. As much as we want to have these people back, we can’t force them into the show just for our own selfish reasons.

“We talked about [distinguishing] this from the Bob Newhart dreams in Big Bang Theory, where it was much more self-aware, and he would say to Sheldon, ‘I’m in your head, you’re the one saying this.’ We didn’t want to play that same dynamic with George. If we did bring him back, we would have to make sure we found a way that wasn’t just rehashing that version of ghost mentor that we did on Big Bang.”

‘Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’ Brings Back Characters from ‘Young Sheldon’

The next guest appearances in Season 1 have been revealed. Annie Potts is back in Episode 14, “A Sportsbook and a Breakup.” In the March 13 episode, “Mandy (Emily Osment) finds out Meemaw runs an illegal sportsbook and decides she wants in on the action. Meanwhile, Georgie struggles to keep Mandy’s new job a secret,” reads the official logline. Later, Reagan Revord and Zoe Perry return in an episode that takes place in the Cooper kitchen. “We will return to the kitchen set a few times. There’s an episode coming up with both Zoe and Reagan. It has been really, really fun to get to pull these characters back in, and expand our world out with these characters that we already know and love,” teased Holland.

Based on Holland’s comments, the chances of George’s return are fifty-fifty, but viewers shouldn’t expect that to happen regularly. Tune in to CBS on Thursdays to watch new episodes of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage and see how everything plays out. You can also stream past episodes on Paramount+ in the US.