Young Sheldon could’ve been easily ditched.
Now that Young Sheldon is over, it’s safe to say that the show’s success not only matched that of its predecessor, but surpassed it. Although The Big Bang Theory has always been popular, Young Sheldon managed to break out of the fandom, attract a whole new group of viewers unfamiliar with the original show, and become a part of pop culture.
There was a time, however, when the fate of the spinoff was less clear. In fact, series co-creator Chuck Lorre was enthusiastic about the idea but had one very important condition.
Who Came Up With Young Sheldon
The essence of the show was a courtesy of Jim Parsons, who portrayed the adult version of Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory and then became very involved in the spinoff as the narrator of every episode. He once showed Chuck Lorre, co-creator of the original show, a video of his wunderkind nephew in Texas, and that’s where the inspiration came from.
However, Lorre wasn’t going to make a spinoff, if it wasn’t for Steven Molaro, who also worked at The Big Bang Theory as the writer and producer. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter as a part of an interview about Young Sheldon’s path to hitting a 100-episode milestone, he revealed how the show came to life.
“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. But if Steve had said no, I wouldn’t have done it,” he explained.
The story of Parsons’ nephew growing up in the middle of Texas was reminiscent of what Sheldon himself went through in his childhood, and with all the background the writers had already established, it was only a matter of setting the story in the 90s and coming up with more prominent members of the Cooper family.
Luckily for Lorre and all the Young Sheldon fans who are still having a hard time coming to terms with the series finale, Steven Molaro was just as excited about the idea, so the spinoff was written, then greenlit by CBS and filmed for everyone to see and enjoy. The rest is history.
If you miss the show so much that you’re ready for a rewatch marathon, all 7 seasons of Young Sheldon are available for streaming on Paramount Plus.
