The Jim Parsons incident that inspired young Sheldon

Creating films and television shows with the aim of producing spin-offs is common these days. As such, it is easy to assume that “Young Sheldon” was born out of a desire to continue gaining popularity “The Big Bang Theory” season 12 finale. However, as Chuck Lorre said Hollywood Reporterthe genesis of Sheldon Cooper’s coming-of-age story came from a conversation he had with Jim Parsons about a real-life child genius.

“It started with a phone call from Jim Parsons, who sent me a video of his 10-year-old nephew in Texas, who is a child prodigy — a wonderful, extraordinary, off the hook, crazy smart kid. And Jim asked, ‘Is there anything we can do?’ With this? I said, “Well, if we wanted to do a show about a brilliant young man — a comedy — we would incorporate that into our show. This is Sheldon Cooper’s backstory.”

Since “The Big Bang Theory” offers a lot of information about Sheldon’s childhood and introduces us to some of his family members, the groundwork for a prequel series was already laid before Parsons and Laurie had that conversation. However, Parsons was initially not on board with the idea of ​​producing a Young Sheldon film, despite wanting to work on a project inspired by his nephew.

Jim Parsons almost rejected “Young Sheldon.” The reason is not wanting to reprise the role of Sheldon Cooper. After all, he is He left “The Big Bang Theory” because he wanted to pursue other projectsBut to paraphrase Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in The Godfather, he was pulled back when he thought he was out.

The actor has also been vocal about his dislike of spin-offs, but agreed to be part of the prequel project as narrator and executive producer after Chuck Lorre convinced him it was an origin story. The rest, as they say, is history — and Parsons is back on screen for the emotional “Young Sheldon” finale.

“Young Sheldon” has ended after seven successful seasons She produced her own show with “Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage”. With the franchise expanding once again, there may be opportunities for Parsons to return to the fold in some capacity in the future. Unfortunately for the fans, Parsons never wanted to play Sheldon Cooper againAlthough he’s open enough to know he can never rule it out.