Why Young Sheldon's Paige Swanson Doesn't Show Up In The Big Bang Theory

"Young Sheldon" chronicles the life of Iain Armitage's eponymous child genius as he comes of age in Texas in the 1980s and early '90s. However, fans shouldn't go into the prequel series expecting every event to line up with what we learned about Sheldon's life on "The Big Bang Theory." For example, "Young Sheldon" introduces us to another child prodigy in the form of Paige Swanson (Mckenna Grace), who's Sheldon's intellectual rival and first crush. She's a memorable part of Sheldon's childhood, so why isn't she acknowledged on "Big Bang Theory?"

The answer is simple: bad timing. "Big Bang Theory" ended after season 12, robbing fans of the chance to find out what happened to Paige after the events of "Young Sheldon." While speaking to TVLine, franchise producer Steve Holland noted that she was only in nine episodes of "Young Sheldon," the majority of which aired after the parent series' final season. The ship to bring closure to Paige's arc had long sailed. As Holland put it:

"'Big Bang' was done, and there was no way to go, 'Can we go back and retrofit [her] into 'Big Bang Theory?”"

With "Big Bang Theory" season 13 unlikely to ever happen, Paige's post-"Young Sheldon" story risks becoming one of the sitcom franchise's greatest untold mysteries. However, fans can rest assured knowing that the former child prodigy's life didn't end in tragedy, even though she experienced some personal hardships during her teenage years.

Paige Swanson goes through a bad time in "Young Sheldon" season 6. Her parents get divorced and she lashes out by getting drunk and smoking at a college party in the episode "A Frat Party, a Sleepover and the Mother of All Blisters." Unfortunately, McKenna Grace became a legit movie afterward and left the series, leaving her character's story open-ended. Some fans have theorized that Paige went off the rails and died, but Steve Holland has dismissed this notion, telling TVLine:

"I know there are some dark theories about what happened to Paige and why Sheldon doesn't mention her [on 'Big Bang']. I don't think she's not mentioned because she went down a dark path and is dead in 'Big Bang Theory.' For us, it was just an interesting way to explore another kid who had a similar thing to Sheldon and the different roads that they could take."

Jim Parsons has no intention of playing Sheldon Cooper again, so we can rule out his character confirming what happened to his old rival. That said, Paige was close to Sheldon's sister, Missy Cooper (Raegan Revord), on "Young Sheldon," and she's returned for the "Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage" spin-off. Missy, it seems, is therefore the key to giving fans the answers they're looking for — if the show's creators are interested in letting her divulge that information.

"Young Sheldon" is currently streaming on Max.