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George Sr. might be gone in Young Sheldon, but a major plot point still has fans of the Big Bang Theory prequel asking questions, particularly about George’s infidelity. Did George cheat on Mary in Young Sheldon before he died? Does Sheldon still believe Helga is another woman? Read on to find out what the show’s executive producer recently clarified.
Young Sheldonis the prequel series to the massively successful CBS showThe Big Bang Theory, which ran from 2007 to 2019. It follows a young Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage) growing up in East Texas in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Jim Parsons, who originated the titular character on Big Bang, had the idea for the series, which he passed to producers Chuck Lorre and Steven Molaro. Parsons also narrates the show and serves as an executive producer. The show first premiered in 2017 and is in its seventh and final season.
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Lance Barber plays Sheldon’s dad, George Sr. The mothership series Big Bang established that Sheldon’s father died when he was around 14 or 15 years old. Young Sheldon finally decided to kill off Barber’s character in Season 7, Episode 12, and George’s death will greatly impact Sheldon’s life moving forward.
“That is a thing that happens in Sheldon’s life. This is the same character [fromBig Bang]. We are living in the same universe asBig Bang and that sort of world building is important. Big things that [Adult Sheldon said] happened in his life without a doubt happened,” executive producerSteve HollandtoldTVLine ahead of the Season 7 premiere.: “I don’t want to say what you will or won’t see, but things will get addressed.”
In “A New Home and a Traditional Texas Torture,” George Sr. was offered his dream job as a college football coach at Rice University. However, the position would require him and his family to move to Houston. Everyone was supportive, and the Cooper family was prepared to sell their house in Medford. But the following day, while George Sr. was heading off to work, he promised to be home in time for a family photo shoot. He told his wife and kids, “See you all later.”
Not thinking it would be the last time he saw his dad, Sheldon didn’t bother to look up from the book he was reading. Later on, Mary (Zoe Perry) opened her front door to find a distraught Tom (Rex Linn) and Wayne (Doc Farrow), who informed her that her husband had suffered a heart attack at work and died. Mary, Missy, and Meemaw burst into tears, while Sheldon just sat down with an unreadable expression on his face.
Now that George has passed, the show’s executive producer, Steve Holland, is opening up about a previous storyline involving George that fans might still be confused about: George’s alleged infidelity and whether he cheated on Mary after all.
Did George cheat on Mary in Young Sheldon before he died?
Did George cheat on Mary in Young Sheldon before he died? The answer is no, George Sr. did not cheat on Mary inYoung Sheldonbefore his unfortunate passing in Season 7.
The storyline originated in Big Bang TheorySeason 10, when Sheldon explains to Penny why he knocks three times before entering a room. “I was 13 years old, and on spring break from college. My mother was in bible study, I walked in the house expecting to find it empty, and I heard a sound coming from my parent’s bedroom,” Jim Parsons’ adult Sheldon said in the series. “When I opened the door, I saw my father having relations with another woman…. We locked eyes, I ran to my room, and we never, ever spoke of it.”
However, when it came time forYoung Sheldonto allude to this specific moment of George’s alleged infidelity, they did so in a way that many fans didn’t expect.In Season 7, Episode 4, “Ants on a Log and a Cheating Winker,” Sheldon knocks on his parent’s bedroom door only once and opens to find George with Mary, mid-role play, who he thought was another woman.
Before Sheldon walked in on his parents, Mary could be overheard asking George, “Are you sure your wife won’t come home?” When Sheldon opened the door, George could be overheard saying, “Oh, Helga!” Sheldon did not lock eyes with his father, and at the time of the episode, it was unknown whether he knew that Helga was his mother.
“He did not know it was Mary. Hestill thinks he walked in [on his father cheating],” Holland confirmed to TV Line. “I think that’s a moment where Sheldon thoughthe saw something. Hethoughthe saw his dad with another woman, and hedidn’t, and there’s a sadness to that, that he’s carried that all these years.”
The executive producer continued, “Again, we’re trying to acknowledge — and we’ve talked about this a lot, like, how do we acknowledge larger Big Bangcanon but not have to be tied to every joke? [George cheating] felt like largerBig Bang canon because it’s tied to his three knocks, which is a big deal, and as we got deeper into the show, it also just didn’t feel like this was the kind of show where we wanted to deal with too much infidelity,” he explained. “We hinted at it a little bit [with the Brenda Sparks character], so we talked about a way to close that loophole. Maybe this was a thing [where] Sheldon isn’t lying, but he’s not in possession of all the facts.”
In another interview with our sister site, Barber said he was elated with the show’s decision to George and Mary’s relationship in a happier direction ahead of his character’s death.
“I’m glad that they did what they did in regards to making it not so on the nose of infidelity,” he explained. “It’s a thing that probably was relatable to people, to have a crime of the heart, to cheat in an emotional way… and that was much more rich to play than the traditional trope of folks cheating on each other.”
Young Sheldon is available to stream on Paramount+.
Check out our gallery on Iain Armitage then and now to see how much the Young Sheldon star has grown up.
