Young Sheldon's Co-Creator Wishes He Never Made This George Sr. Decision On The Big Bang Theory

Chuck Lorre has said he regrets a foundational creative decision made early in "The Big Bang Theory": making the death of Sheldon Cooper's father a defining part of the character's childhood.

Lorre addressed that regret in a vanity card immediately following the antepenultimate episode of "Young Sheldon," which culminated in the off-screen death of George Cooper Sr., played on the prequel by Lance Barber.

"Eighteen years ago, when we were writing and producing 'The Big Bang Theory,' it seemed like a good idea to imagine that Sheldon's childhood was deeply disrupted by the loss of his father," Lorre wrote. "No one could have thought that someday we would regret that decision. That someday is now.

"There were a lot of tears on stage when this episode's last scene was shot," he continued. "A reminder that we had all fallen in love with a fictional character. Which is, itself, a reminder to love the characters in our life who are real. To do otherwise, is to live with regret."

For much of "The Big Bang Theory," Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) described his father as a hard-drinking and neglectful parent who was also unfaithful in his marriage to Mary. "Young Sheldon," however, presented a different version of George — a flawed but kind, compassionate man who loves his family even more than his Lone Star beer.

The spin-off doesn't just present George as a decent guy; it also shows that he and Sheldon often shared a warmer relationship than Sheldon's adult recollections initially suggested. There are relatively few scenes in which Sheldon shows outright animosity toward his father, and even the adultery he long resented is ultimately revealed to have been a misunderstanding.

The "Young Sheldon" series finale provided additional context by revealing that the prequel was being narrated by Sheldon in the not-so-distant future, as he worked on his memoirs alongside Amy (Mayim Bialik). Each episode, viewers learned, represented an excerpt from Sheldon's autobiography — a retrospective account of his childhood shaped by time and perspective.

Barber, meanwhile, would go on to reprise George Sr. in a Season 1 episode of the "Young Sheldon" spin-off "Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage," appearing to his eldest son in a dream.