You’re not over it, we’re not over it – the GOAT dad of fictional TV has gone. But what if the harshest Young Sheldon death had merit? For Lance Barber, it was a no-brainer.
If there’s one TV moment from the year you likely won’t want to relive, it’s George’s death in the Young Sheldon Season 7 ending. The town of Medford attended his funeral in Episode 13, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
This means we won’t see him going forward in new spinoff Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage. While that’s a gut-wrenching thought, actor Lance Barber stands by the decision to kill his character off.
Why? The reason is simple – we already knew it was coming. Thanks to Sheldon’s memories in The Big Bang Theory, we knew George was dead long before the main series picked up.
“Do I think that killing George off was right? Yes, absolutely,” Barber explained to Dexerto. “I think it meant so much to the show. We knew that it was there, and the trajectory of the show followed what any Big Bang Theory fan knew was coming.”
While we might not have had our fill of George yet, there’s a silver lining in the outcome for Barber.
“George got to ride out the entire seven seasons, and that’s what they intended to do,” he added. “I was always worried that perhaps my day would come earlier. But as an actor, I got to see out the full run of the show.
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“It ended around that tragic event and around the time that Sheldon went to college – so it all played out. It was natural and beautiful for the show to end in such a memorable way.”
As TBBT fans will know, the George we were introduced to via Sheldon’s memory and the George we loved in Young Sheldon were two completely different people. The original show made the Cooper patriarch out to be an abusive alcoholic… but the truth was far from it.
“I think there was a bit of discovery around why George changed so much,” Barber said. “By the time Young Sheldon came around, Chuck Lorre knew he wanted George to be likable.
“When we grow up, we see our parents in a different light. George certainly had his faults, which were fun to play. He was not a perfect father. He was a father who tried, and I think that made people enjoy and appreciate him.”
He might be the Young Sheldon death we’ll never get over, but George lives on – possibly even into the sequel.
Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage hits screens on October 17. Find out why we’re not getting Young Sheldon Season 8, why the sequel has picked the wrong characters for a spinoff, and more TV shows streaming.