Why Jim Parsons Found His Young Sheldon Finale Cameo Weird

After providing the show's voice-over for its entire run, Jim Parsons — who originated the role of Sheldon Cooper — finally appeared on the first major "Big Bang Theory" spin-off (and prequel), "Young Sheldon" (where the titular young Sheldon is played by Iain Armitage). So, how did he feel about the whole thing? Weird, actually! (This makes sense, considering he almost turned down the chance to appear on "Young Sheldon" to begin with.)

Parsons, who appeared on the spin-off as what I can only refer to as "Old Sheldon," spoke to Today before the finale actually aired in May 2024 and said that the experience contained multitudes. Asked how it felt to return to the character and film a new scene alongside Sheldon's on-screen wife Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik, who also reprised her role from "The Big Bang Theory"), Parsons quipped, "Very weird. Also very beautiful."

Don't worry; Parsons went on to explain that because the two shows were shot in completely different ways, it wasn't that weird. "'Big Bang Theory' was always a live-audience show and 'Young Sheldon' is a single-camera show, and I got to do it with Mayim — we both played Sheldon and Amy from the series — and to do it in that situation, it was just different enough that it wasn't creepy," Parsons clarified, saying that the experience was actually really great. "Like going like, 'What are we doing here again?!' Instead, it was really sweet. It felt like the nicest little coda to the whole experience, and I was very grateful that they asked us to do it."

So, what is Sheldon up to when he shows up as Old Sheldon on "Young Sheldon," gray hair and all? He's reflecting on the death of his father, George Cooper Sr. (played on "Young Sheldon" by Lance Barber), whose funeral is a major part of the show's final episodes. As Sheldon muses on his father's legacy — and the fact that, during "The Big Bang Theory," he doesn't speak fondly of his dad — he makes a surprisingly emotional confession. "For a long time I focused on my father's shortcomings," Old Sheldon says in the episode. "Now that I'm his age and have kids of my own, I realize he was just a person doing the best he could, and he did a lot. I didn't say it at his funeral but I can say it now. I loved my father, I will miss him forever."

In a May 2024 interview with Glamour, "Young Sheldon" executive producers and co-showrunners Steve Molaro and Steve Holland weighed in on Sheldon's approach to fatherhood and what it was like to reunite with Mayim Bialik and Jim Parsons (Holland and Molaro both worked on "The Big Bang Theory" as well). As far as Sheldon and Amy's timeline, Holland said it's a little fuzzy, but they had some thoughts: "We don't say, but their kids in our minds are probably 11 or 12. So we're probably maybe five or six-ish years in the future from now. But it's unspecified."

So, what was it like for Molaro and Holland to work with Bialik and Parsons? They loved it. "It was wonderful," Molaro gushed. "We interact with Jim all the time because he's the narrator on our show [...] but to see him as Sheldon on the set with Mayim, it was emotional and surreal and exciting. It was the best day." Holland agreed, saying that both actors — but especially Parsons — slipped back into their characters seamlessly. "They're such good actors and so smart to watch, so to see the choices they're making at each moment was really fun to watch," Holland added. "There's a physicality to Sheldon, in the way Jim has always performed, and it's different than only having him do the voiceovers. Seeing him there in person really brings the character back."

So, what is Sheldon Cooper doing in the finale of "Young Sheldon," and why does he look ... slightly more dignified (or, frankly, about as dignified as Sheldon Cooper could possibly look)? In that same interview with Steve Holland and Steve Molaro, the duo confirmed that Jim Parsons' Old Sheldon narrated the entire show because he's writing a memoir about his childhood and weighed in on Sheldon's more mature aesthetic.

After clarifying that they didn't always "know" Sheldon was writing a memoir, Molaro said they came to the decision as the show reached its close. "We knew he was telling these stories, so what was happening in the context of the show is not far off from a memoir," he said. "But to technically say that this is without a doubt a memoir in a book he's writing, only near the end did we make that official."

As for Sheldon's classy "dad" robe, Molaro said that they simply wanted to move away from Sheldon's signature comic book tees — and said Mayim Bialik actually helped inform Amy's "mom" look. "I remember us thinking we didn't want Sheldon in the typical comic book store shirts," Molaro recalled. "He's a dad now, and we wanted him to be a little more mature. We figured Amy might have encouraged him to no longer wear that, or hidden them all. It was nice that he has on a long-sleeve sweater that he pushed up the sleeves a little bit to sort of evoke the old Sheldon vibes from 'Big Bang.' That was intentional. Mayim was happy with what Amy was wearing and thought it was right. And those were Mayim's personal glasses."

There's also one thing missing from Sheldon's outfit that's mentioned in "Young Sheldon." At one point during the show, Simon Helberg's "Big Bang Theory" character shows up to make fun of Sheldon for always wearing his Nobel Prize (which he and Amy win in the series finale). So, where's his medal? On the wall behind him. "Amy made him stop wearing it," Molaro joked. "She's like, 'You need to take that off. This is getting [ridiculous].'" Holland agreed: "He can pull it out for company, otherwise it's in the box."

"The Big Bang Theory" and "Young Sheldon" are currently available to stream on Max.