Why does Howard Wolowitz’s mother look different from little Sheldon?

One of the strangest sitcom tropes is the invisible character. These range from Niles Crane (David Hyde Pierce), Maris’ increasingly physically impossible wife in “Frasier” To approach the subject in a more gentle way, like Wilson (Earl Hyndman) on “Home Improvement.”

“The Big Bang Theory” is no exception to the trope’s pervasive presence, thanks to Howard Wolowitz’s (Simon Helberg) unseen but oft-heard mother, Debbie Wolowitz. Mrs. Wolowitz is a powerful and imposing presence in Howard’s life, yet she is a force of good and an important figure to him and most of the other main characters on the show.

Since the character is, for all intents and purposes, just a voice in “The Big Bang Theory,” fans may have noticed a noticeable difference in her voice in “Young Sheldon.” It’s not because the actress who voices Ms. Wolowitz on The Big Bang Theory, Carol Ann Soucie, was asked to change the character’s voice to reflect her younger age. The real reason is much more tragic, as Susie actually died in 2014. For this reason, Pamela Adlon voices Mrs. Wolowitz in the previous series.

Naturally, every character from “The Big Bang Theory” that appeared in the ’80s and ’90s had to be recast into “Young Sheldon” to avoid the kind of situation where people in their 40s are playing 13-year-olds. the elderly. However, after Carol Ann Soucy died in 2014 at the age of 62, the situation was completely different.

‘The Big Bang Theory’ never shows Howard’s mother; But because of Susie’s death, the show never recast her. Instead, the people behind the series addressed the situation by saying goodbye to the character in Season 8, with Debbie Wolowitz becoming one of the show’s characters. Death of main characters. In a 2015 interview with Hollywood Reportershowrunner Steve Molaro addressed the trauma caused by Susie’s death and the way the series’ creators came to the decision to address it in-universe with Mrs. Wolowitz’s death:

“It took a while for this devastation to subside before we could even think about it. We couldn’t bring ourselves to start thinking about it. Eventually the needs of the supply forced the issue) and we had to come up with a plan, and I don’t think “We could force ourselves to replace the actor. It was a terrible idea for us and that left us with two options: send the character away — which felt false and fake — or go right with it and write him into the show. So that’s what we chose to do.”

The character’s appearance in “Young Sheldon” can’t be called a remake either. When a montage of “The Big Bang Theory” characters as children in the Season 2 episode “Something Swedish Science and the Toast Equation” needed an appearance from Ms. Wolowitz, Pamela Adlon simply stepped in to provide the needed voice work.