Say hello to Sheldon 9.0
Armitage plays 9-year-old know-it-all in “Young Sheldon”
Iain Armitage finishes a photo shoot with a mix of smiles, stares and know-it-all expressions, displaying the professionalism of someone who’s been acting twice as long as the 9-year-old’s been alive.
The photographer, pleased with the boy’s range of moods, offers a high-five and gets another look: stone face.
“You have a lot of germs on your hand,” Armitage says, momentarily stunning the photographer before cracking a smile. “I was just being Sheldon!”
Bazinga! Say hello to Sheldon Cooper 9.0 of CBS spinoff Young Sheldon, The Big Bang Theory origin story that tracks genius Sheldon as a young germophobe, also 9, who’s entering high school in east Texas in
1989. The new series has a special preview Sept. 25 (8:30 ET/ PT) following Big Bang’s Season
11 premiere, then returns Nov. 2 (Thursdays at 8:30).
The idea that became Young Sheldon started with adult Sheldon, Jim Parsons.
“We spent 10 years discussing Sheldon’s childhood on The Big Bang Theory, so a lot of the heavy lifting was done,” says executive producer Chuck Lorre. “We knew who his family was. We knew a good deal about his educational history.”
Many details will be familiar. Sheldon lives with his protective, church-going mother , Mary (Zoe Perry); good ol’ boy, football-coach father, George Sr. (Lance Barber); and siblings.
But “we’re not just writing adult Sheldon’s words and putting them in Iain’s mouth,” says executive producer Steve Molaro. “There are things Jim Parsons can get away with that, when you have a little kid say it, he just comes off as bratty. And 9-yearold Sheldon has an endearing optimism and innocence ...”
“... which obviously gets smashed somewhere along the way,” Lorre interjects. “But we’re not there yet.”
Even with that adjustment, producers needed a young actor who could channel Parsons’ ability to annoy while remaining lov- able and also anchor the high-profile new series, which gets sarcastic seasoning in Parsons’ narration.
“You tie in that link for people who are big fans of Big Bang and make that bridge all the stronger for them,” he says.
The comedy examines how finicky, brutally honest Sheldon influences an otherwise typical suburban family. Despite his brilliance, they’re not defenseless.
“The whole family might have an advantage in terms of reading cues in a social setting over Sheldon,” says Perry, the real-life daughter of Laurie Metcalf, who plays Mary on Big Bang. “Everyone has to either accommodate how he would like things to run or not. So, it’s a negotiation.”
The comedy’s lack of a studio audience sets the spinoff apart, as do character shadings that may surprise Sheldon fans.
In the pilot, George Sr., who is not remembered fondly on Big Bang, gets fleshed out, as father and son share a surprisingly intimate conversation and gesture.
“On The Big Bang Theory, he’s a punchline,” Barber says. “Sheldon’s memory of him is tainted by chips on the shoulder. Perhaps we’ll get to see a more human person.”