‘Young Sheldon’ starred Iain Armitage as the younger version of Jim Parsons’ character Sheldon Cooper from ‘The Big Bang Theory’
Young Sheldon became an instant hit when it premiered in 2017.
The series, which finished airing in May 2024 after seven seasons, detailed the origin story of The Big Bang Theory’s beloved Sheldon Cooper. The sitcom starred Iain Armitage as the younger version of Jim Parsons from the original series.
While the story is fictional, Parsons came up with the idea after spending time with his “brilliant” young nephew, Michael.
The actor took a video of his nephew, who was 10 years old at the time, and sent it to The Big Bang Theory co-creator Chuck Lorre, noting that a story about a young genius could be their next project. The wheels in Lorre and Parsons’ brains began turning, and they quickly started working on Young Sheldon.
Here’s everything to know about the true story behind Young Sheldon and how Jim Parsons’ nephew inspired The Big Bang Theory prequel.
Is Young Sheldon based on a true story?
Young Sheldon was inspired by Parsons’ real-life nephew.
While the actor was starring as Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, he started looking inward for possible spinoff ideas. Parsons, whose character hailed from a small town in Texas, is also from Texas and was visiting his family when he got an idea from his nephew Michael, who was 10 years old at the time.
“We had been asked by [CBS] executives, ‘Would you look into your own life? Because those pitch well,’ ” Parsons told Entertainment Tonight in 2017. “So we were looking at my family and one of my nephews, my sister’s kids, her oldest, he’s very smart. Not like in a Sheldon way, but they frequently say, ‘Where did he come from?’ So we were like, this sounds like a good idea. And the more we talked — they’re in Texas — and it was, like, this relates.”
After getting the idea, Parsons reached out to The Big Bang Theory’s showrunners Chuck Lorre and Steven Molaro and pitched the idea of a young Sheldon.
“[I] was like, ‘Listen we have this idea … If this interests you and you want to look into this together, let’s chat. If not, we can go on our merry way and change it enough that it doesn’t relate as much.’ But Chuck loved it and Steve Molaro loved it,” he said. “And what they’ve done with it, in making it a single cam, and the way that they’ve opened this up, it’s beautiful — even more than I could have dreamed of.”
Lorre later recalled the show’s origin story and how Parsons sent him a video of his nephew, whom the showrunner described as “a prodigy — brilliant, extraordinary, off the hook, crazy smart kid.”
“And Jim asked, ‘Is there anything we can do with this?’ ” Lorre told The Hollywood Reporter in 2022. “I said, ‘Well, if we wanted to do a show about a young man who is brilliant — a comedy — we have that built into our show. That’s the backstory of Sheldon Cooper.’ “
Lorre continued, “Over the years of Big Bang, we learned about his mother, we learned about his upbringing in Texas, his sister and brother. We had the backstory in place. It was just a matter of whether to execute it as its own show. It was pretty simple for me.”
While Parsons brought the idea to Lorre and Molaro, his sister, Michael’s mom, was the first one to point out her son’s comparison, telling KVUE in 2015, “[Michael is] not just like Jim. He’s just like Sheldon!”
Although the show was inspired by Parsons’ nephew, it focused on telling Sheldon’s origin story and unraveled some of the stories he told in The Big Bang Theory.
Who is Jim Parsons’ nephew?
Parsons was spending time with his sister, Julie, in Texas when he got the idea from his nephew, Michael, to pitch the spinoff.
“He’s just so smart, so smart,” he said on the Today show in 2017. “And, my family’s not a bunch of dodo birds, but Michael sticks out. And at some point, we were sort of describing young Sheldon.”
Parsons’ nephew, who was 11 years old by the premiere of Young Sheldon in 2017, has since grown up. The two have remained close, and Parsons has brought Michael to several events over the years, including the 77th Annual Tony Awards in 2024.
Did any of the Young Sheldon stories happen in real life?
While Young Sheldon was inspired by Parsons’ nephew, the show itself focused on what Sheldon said about his childhood during The Big Bang Theory.
“We have a decade of material built in already of talking about this childhood and talking about this character’s past,” Parsons explained on Today.
The prequel takes a deeper dive into themes that the older version of Sheldon mentioned on the original show — including dealing with the death of his dad, his fascination with science and the Nobel Prize and even how his signature “Bazinga!” started.
Are any of the other Young Sheldon characters based on real people?
The rest of the characters in Young Sheldon were created based on how they were portrayed on The Big Bang Theory, not on real-life people.
In addition to Armitage, the spinoff starred Zoe Perry as Mary Cooper, Lance Barber as George Cooper Sr., Montana Jordan as Georgie Cooper Jr., Raegan Revord as Melissa “Missy” Cooper and Annie Potts as Connie “Meemaw” Tucker.
As for any real inspiration, Armitage previously told Parade that his on-screen parents were quite different from his real parents, Euan Morton and Lee Armitage.
“Well Sheldon’s mothers’ really religious and she can also get very emotional at times,” he told the outlet. “Whereas my mother is, not ever emotional. She’s so perfect and awesome and I love her so much. But then the dad is a football coach and my dad is just the opposite. He’s currently in Hamilton, which I’m really proud of.”
