Young Sheldon boss reveals finale Easter eggsBill Inoshita / 2024 Warner Bros
Young Sheldon spoilers follow.
The Big Bang Theory spin-off Young Sheldon came to an end in the US this week, showing the iconic character heading off to Caltech, but also the heartbreak of his father’s funeral.
Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik returned as older Sheldon and Amy to tie everything together, but their scenes contained much more for long-term fans than just the actors themselves.
Speaking to Variety, executive producer Steve Holland didn’t reveal everything that was hidden in the set, but did explain how they put it all together, and revealed some of his favourite Easter eggs.
“That set was actually super fun, because we actually went through the Big Bang set,” he explained. “The original Big Bang set is in the museum here at Warner Bros, so we went and raided the museum and took pieces back out of it.
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“…We didn’t want it to distract from the scene that’s going on but maybe if people go back and freeze-frame afterwards, there’s a lot of little hidden things decorating that set. It was really fun and emotional, actually, to pull those things back into our world.
“There are so many items. But for one thing, and this is Sheldon’s office in his house in Pasadena, the couch [from Big Bang] is there. We barely focus on it, but if you’re eagle eyed, it’s there in the background. The DNA molecule from their apartment is there in the corner. His Nobel prize is framed on a wall behind him.
“There are probably 20 or 25 little things that we pulled from either Big Bang or Young Sheldon that we placed. But hopefully, if [viewers] go back and watch it a few more times, see how much they can spot.”
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There’s one other Easter egg right at the end. As Sheldon arrives on Caltech campus, a professor approaches him and asks him if he’s lost.
“That’s actually David Saltzberg, who’s been our science consultant since the beginning of Big Bang,” Holland explained. “We’ve actually figured out he has probably been involved with this character longer than anyone other than Chuck and Jim Parsons, because he did the original Big Bang Theory pilot.
“All the way up until now, he’s been involved with the show, and so we were talking about who it could be and we had lots of pitches. We ultimately wanted to make sure it wasn’t distracting, that people were going to be like, ‘Oh, that’s someone famous,’ because it’s Sheldon’s moment.
“But we also knew no one would know who David was but it was our little acknowledgement of how long and how important David’s been to the show, so that’s awesome.”
Of course, this isn’t farewell to the world of Big Bang, as the Young Sheldon spin-off is itself getting a spin-off focusing on Georgie Cooper and Mandy McAllister.
