During its heyday,The Big Bang Theorywas the most popular sitcom in the world, and the breakout character of the show was Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons. Near the series end, the producers greenlit another showYoung Sheldontelling the tale of Sheldon in his tweens living in Texas. The season 4 premiere ofYoung Sheldonconnected in a touching manner toThe Big Bang Theory. Jim Parsons was joined by Mayim Bialik, who played his wife, Amy, to provide a voiceover narration during young Sheldon’s graduation ceremony that revealed the name of their son.
Sheldon:In fact, it was the best graduation party I had ever been to, until the one we had for my son. Leonard Cooper. I wanted his name to beLeonard NimoyCooper, but Amy wouldn’t let me.
Amy:Be happy I let you name him Leonard."
Whileadult Sheldonmight want to pretend that he named his son after the actor who played Spock, fans ofThe Big Bang Theorywill know the name Leonard was actually a tribute toLeonard Hofstadter, Sheldon’s roommate for more than a decade, and the best friend he ever had.
The relationship between Leonard and Sheldon was the lynchpin for the entireThe Big Bang Theoryuniverse, so it’s nice to see the relationship continue to be honored by the writers. Sheldon’s character has always been defined by two things, his undeniable genius in matters of science, and his complete incompetence in matters of socializing.
AsYoung Sheldonshows, the latter point was a problem for Sheldon in his youth as well, when the fact that he was a tween learning college-level physics made him even more of an outcast. While young Sheldon tries to pretend he is not bothered by his lack of friends, a few revealing moments like his tears over no one coming to his party shows he does care about making friends.
Fortunately, while things might be rough going for young Sheldon when it comes to friendships, the finale ofThe Big Bang Theoryshowed things did get better for him. On the day that Sheldon stood beside Amy on the world stage to accept the Nobel prize for Physics, he acknowledged the importance of his friends in his life, includingPenny, Howard, Raj, Bernadette, and of course, Leonard, who were right there in the audience to support him.
Now thatYoung Sheldonis in its fourth season, and Sheldon is preparing to go off to college, there are certain plot points mentioned inThe Big Bang Theorywith regards to Sheldon’s childhood that the show will have to address. These include Sheldon and Missy growing apart, Sheldon’s father having an affair that his mother finds out about, and most importantly, the death of Sheldon’s father.
It will be interesting to see ifYoung Sheldonchooses to keep to those story beats or decides to ignore them in favor of continuing the storylines from its previous seasons, which show Sheldon and Missy growing increasingly closer, and the marriage of Sheldon’s mother and father being presented as a strong and loving one.
