Every hero has a beginning so goes the proverb – whether it’s superheroes, secret agents or television characters, the prequel has always been a hive of story possibilities. Now CBS is taking one their most beloved characters in recent memory and returning to his pre-teen years.
Young Sheldon, the new show from the makers of The Big Bang Theory, tells the story of our favourite genius Sheldon Cooper and takes us back to his life when he was a 9-year-old child prodigy trying to wrestle with his immense smartness, school and growing up in Texas with his brother and twin sister (who we have seen in the show previously) and his parents.
The show is executive produced by co-Big Bang creator Chuck Lorre as well as Steven Molaro and Jim Parsons, who plays Sheldon on TBBT. In fact, it was Parsons who came up with the idea of the prequel and narrates the story as the older character.
Iain Armitage, who played the son of Shailene Woodley’s character in HBO’s hit drama Big Little Lies, plays the young Cooper.
Here’s the first-look trailer for the show,:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e2Lk0Omuvs
The Big Bang Theory, which has just finished its 10th season, is still the highest-rated comedy series in the US and was recently renewed for an 11th and 12th season. All of the cast, including Parsons, Johnny Galecki (Leonard), Kaley Cuoco (Penny), Simon Helberg (Wolowitz), Kunal Nayyar (Raj), Mayim Bialik (Amy) and Melissa Rauch (Bernadette), signed on for them – indeed, Parsons, Galecki, Cuoco, Helberg and Nayyar, who all now take home $1million per episode, reportedly cut their salaries down by $100,000 per episode so that Bialik and Rauch could be given a raise (both are now on $500,000 per episode).
Young Sheldon airs on CBS this Fall in the US. A UK release will hopefully follow soon after.
