Why Howard Wolowitz's Mom Sounds Different On Young Sheldon

One of the most strangely specific sitcom tropes is the unseen character. These range from Niles Crane's (David Hyde Pierce) increasingly physically impossible wife Maris on "Frasier" to gentler takes on the subject, like Wilson (Earl Hindman) on "Home Improvement."

"The Big Bang Theory" is no exception to the all-permeating presence of the trope, courtesy of Howard Wolowitz's (Simon Helberg) unseen but very much heard mother, Debbie Wolowitz. An abrasive and imposing presence in Howard's life, Mrs. Wolowitz is nevertheless a force of good and an important figure to both him and most of the show's other main characters.

Since the character is, for all intents and purposes, just a voice on "The Big Bang Theory," fans may have noticed a marked difference in how she sounds on "Young Sheldon." This isn't because the actor who voices Mrs. Wolowitz on "The Big Bang Theory," Carol Ann Susi, was told to alter the character's sound to convey her younger age. The real reason is far more tragic, as Susi actually died in 2014. Because of this, Pamela Adlon voices Mrs. Wolowitz in the prequel series.

Naturally, every character from "The Big Bang Theory" who makes an appearance in the 1980s and '90s setting of "Young Sheldon" had to be recast to avoid the kind of situation where 40-somethings with perma-stubble play 13-year-olds. However, after Carol Ann Susi passed away in 2014 at just 62 years old, the situation was very, very different.

"The Big Bang Theory" never shows Howard's mother, but due to Susi's passing, the show never recast her, either. Instead, the people behind the series addressed the situation with a moving season 8 send-off of the character, as Debbie Wolowitz became one of the show's major character deaths. In a 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Steve Molaro addressed the shock Susi's death caused and the way the series' creatives arrived to the decision to address it in-universe with Mrs. Wolowitz's death:

"It took a while for that devastation to calm down before we could even think about it. We couldn't bring ourselves to start to think about it. Eventually the needs of the show [forced the issue] and we had to come up with a plan, and I don't think we could bring ourselves to replace the actor. The thought of it felt awful to us. That left us with two options: We send the character away — which seemed false and fake — or we go right into it and write it into the show, so that's what we chose to do."

The character's appearance in "Young Sheldon" can hardly be called a recast, either. When the show's "'The Big Bang Theory' characters as kids" montage in the season 2 episode "A Swedish Science Thing and the Equation for Toast" needed a Mrs. Wolowitz cameo, Pamela Adlon simply stepped in to provide the needed vocal work.