How producers addressed the fate of George Cooper Sr

Spoiler alert! This story contains plot points from the May 11 episode of Young Sheldon On CBS.

For lovers big bang theory, Thursday’s episode of Young Sheldon It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. With the series ending on May 16 after just one week, viewers have been waiting for the comedic lead character to face a major family tragedy before going to Caltech.

It finally happened in the episode titled “A New House and Traditional Torture in Texas.”

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Off camera, George Cooper Sr. (Lance Barber) dies of a heart attack. His best friend delivered the tragic news to his family.

Here, executive producer Steve Holland explains the timing of George’s death and why it was important to keep it out of the series finale.

Delivery time: Is it weird to write about a score that fans love The Big Bang Theory He already knew and expected it Young SheldonFinal season?

Steve Holland: I mean it’s a little challenging. There are some parts of tradition and some parts of the ending that people know about. But I think it’s also about trying to tell those stories in ways that are still surprising. Especially since the show has moved to Netflix, I think there is a younger audience that is less familiar with Big Bang. So I actually don’t know the answer to how many people expect certain things to happen in the end versus how many people will be surprised by them. It’s a good question.

Delivery time: Was established in the great explosion That George died of a heart attack?

Dutch: I don’t remember if it was some kind of implied heart attack. Not sure if we actually said heart attack. That’s what we’ve always thought, internally. We know that Sheldon’s father died when he was 14, but I don’t remember if we specifically said heart attack.

Delivery time: Love the bait and switch with the ladder and how you put George on top of it to inspect the ceiling!

Dutch: You feel nervous any time he wanders into traffic or climbs the stairs. You have to be nervous about what’s going to happen!

Delivery time: Were there long discussions about whether the heart attack should happen off camera?

Dutch: He was always going to be off camera. We did not want to witness that moment of his death. We always knew we’d be dealing with his death this season, but we never thought we’d see him on camera. So, the discussion has been going on about when this will happen over the past few episodes and how the family will get the news.

Delivery time: Why did you give him his dream job before he died?

Dutch: Because we mean! For several reasons. We wanted to give George the win after all these years. Because there’s a segment of the audience that was anticipating the death, and they assumed it was going to be this season, we thought, “Well, maybe if we put it in episode 12, not even the penultimate episode, maybe that would be more of a surprise. And then it’s about figuring out what that episode is.” And I felt like it was a nice way, even if it was a bit mean, to give George a little bit of a win and make the episode feel like it’s about something that’s not just about treading water until you get to that final moment. I think it makes that final moment more surprising And influence.

Delivery time: So you knew for a while that you didn’t want him to die in the final episode?

Dutch: We’ve talked about that. I think early on our thinking was probably that it would be the last episode or the funeral would be the last episode. While we were talking about it, I think Chuck Lorre said that the show was a positive, loving family show. Let’s not leave the audience drowning in sadness. Maybe there’s a way to do that and then move past it and show the family starting to put themselves back together again and end with a little more hopeful moment.

The final episode of the series Young Sheldon It airs on Thursday 16 May in two consecutive episodes.