How Young Sheldon Actor Feels About Playing Sheldon Cooper

When Young Sheldon was announced, it was hard to imagine anyone else playing Sheldon Cooper aside from Jim Parsons, who played the character on the comedy’s parent show, The Big Bang Theory. However, Iain Armitage ended up being the perfect casting choice, and the young actor recently opened up about what he truly loved about playing Sheldon on the CBS spinoff.

The end of Young Sheldon Season 3 saw Sheldon pleading with his mother Mary to send him to college. Her argument was that the young genius was still far too young to go away to college, but Sheldon persisted. Did Iain Armitage like playing his character this way? Here’s what he said:

Oh yeah! I love pestering people.

During his chat with San Francisco's CBS Local, Iain Armitage added that those kinds of Young Sheldon episodes were “fun” to do because it was a “good old-fashioned Sheldon pestering someone” situation. Audiences know all too well how good Sheldon can be at pushing people’s buttons. And it worked, too, because Mary wound up caving and allowing Sheldon to attend college, albeit a local one.

Pestering aside, a big reason why so many viewers enjoy watching Young Sheldon and other TV shows is because it provides some escapism from the real world, especially with everything that’s going on in current events. Iain Armitage explained how meaningful it was to him to be able to entertain the masses. Here’s how the actor puts it:

That’s a really good question. I really enjoy it. I love being able to make people happy and to let them escape from this whole craziness. I think it’s always a very good thing when people can use entertainment to get away. Like during World War I and World War II, a lot of new musicals were written to be able to cheer people up. I think that’s kind of what’s happening with musicals and with TV, well not musicals now, but hopefully after all COVID a lot of new shows will come in.

Fans of all things Sheldon Cooper will now be getting a double dose of the character. It was recently announced that HBO Max, the latest streaming service to hit the market, acquired the streaming rights for Young Sheldon. HBO Max reportedly spent a whopping $1 billion to add Young Sheldon to its already extensive streaming library and, as a result, the comedy series will now be available to watch alongside all 12 seasons of The Big Bang Theory.

Young Sheldon has already been renewed for Season 4, but there’s no word yet on when the series will return to CBS with new episodes. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for updates. In the meantime, be sure to check out our 2020 summer TV premiere guide for more on what to watch.

Mae Abdulbaki