The death of George Cooper has always been inevitable on Young Sheldon. Sheldon Cooper speaks about the tragedy on The Big Bang Theory and how the lack of a fatherly presence greatly affected his adult life. Unlike the retcon of George’s affair, his death was around the corner.
Throughout Young Sheldon, there were near heart-stopping teases of George’s future demise. He had a heart attack in the third episode of the series and another one in Season 5. All in all, George was quite lucky since those two scares convinced him to turn his life around and focus more on his marriage and family. Unfortunately, staying faithful to his wife and offering sound life advice to his children wasn’t enough to save him from his last heart attack.
At the end of Season 7, Episode 12, “A New Home and a Traditional Texas Torture,” the Coopers are ready to take their traditional Texan family picture but are still waiting for George. Mary was adamant about taking the picture on time since Sheldon would be moving to CalTech soon, which was the first red flag that something was wrong. When Mary opens the door to Principal Peterson and Assistant Coach Wayne Wilkins instead of her husband, she immediately knew something was wrong. The pair tell Mary, Connie and Missy the devastating news that George died from a heart attack.
The final two episodes of Young Sheldon may dive more into the exact events surrounding his death, but it’s also easy to piece together what happened. A running joke throughout the series is that George was considerably unhealthy and didn’t take great care of his body. This was evident whenever his children, wife or Connie would point out how many beers he would drink or his love for brisket. More than likely, George had a heart attack at afternoon football practice and died on the scene, since the family wasn’t even alerted to go to the hospital. What might really puzzle fans, however, is why the series doesn’t actually show George dying.
There’s an unspoken rule in television that if a person doesn’t die on-screen, it either didn’t happen or the series will have to work very hard to convince viewers that they did. Regarding why George’s death occurred off-screen, however, executive producer Steve Holland said that it was a conscious choice since “we never thought about seeing it on camera.” Expected or not, the decision was the right one for a sitcom. Season 7 was already overshadowed by the dark cloud of George’s inevitable death. Adding on the layer of watching him die on-screen is too gut-wrenching for a sitcom that’s heading into its final days. Missy, Mary and Connie’s heartbreaking sobs as they hear the news are enough.
How the Finale Will Tackle George’s Death
The Finale of Young Sheldon Will Allow the Characters Time to Mourn the Loss of George
The events leading up to the tragedy may take the cake for Young Sheldon‘s most devastating episode, in the context of them being crushed by George’s death. The Cooper family finally seemed like they were on the right track in Season 7. George’s affair was retconned to be a misinterpretation by Sheldon, which erases his tarnished reputation from the viewers and Mary’s perspectives. George was also fully accepting of Georgie and Mandy’s marriage, and seemed to finally hit good ground with his oldest son. What was most gratifying, though, was a job offer from Rice University to coach college football, which was George’s big dream.
George had previously been offered to coach college football in Oklahoma back in Season 2, but he turned it down to keep his family in Texas. It was a great sacrifice at the time, but it finally paid off when Mary and everyone else (except for Sheldon) urged him to take the job at Rice and move to Houston. Holland revealed that giving George this win was to avoid an episode that was “treading water,” which is also why the creatives decided to place the death two episodes before the series finale. He further insisted that the creatives wanted the show to end on a happy note by giving the family time to grieve and move forward with their lives.
The last two episodes will be a time for reflection for the Cooper family, who may all wallow in guilt and regret over their last moments with George. Sheldon missed out on his final dinner with his father because he refused to accept that the family was moving, and openly showed his disapproval of his father’s dream job. Missy insisted on taking the bus instead of riding to school with him on his final day of life. Missy actor Raegan Revord said she would carry that [regret] with her for the rest of her life. Georgie may be the only one who will have one last positive memory of his father, as they bonded over being fathers and providing for their families.
Sheldon, in particular, will be an interesting character to follow in the finale because of his aversion to showing emotions at appropriate moments. Co-creator Chuck Lorre has said that Sheldon’s blank expression over his father’s death conveys a sense of regret for not making things right with George before his passing. As Sheldon and Missy have been at each other’s throats for most of their childhoods, it could be a bonding moment for them before Sheldon leaves Texas.
