When CinemaBlend learned from the legendary, comedy-loving magicians Penn & Teller that they would be appearing as guest stars for Young Sheldon's Season 5 finale on CBS, it seemed somewhat likely that the silent member of the duo would be returning to the mini-franchise in a way that tied back to his presence on The Big Bang Theory. As fans will no doubt remember, he was introduced as the father figure for Amy Farrah Fowler ahead of her wedding with Sheldon. But their roles have now been revealed, and it turns out Teller will be taking on a far grosser role than anything related to his TBBT introduction.
For Young Sheldon's upcoming finale, fans can look forward to seeing Penn & Teller taking on roles that aren't even human, so to speak, and are more of an abstract representation of Sheldon going through the age-old nightmare of getting acne as a teen. Or, in the case of Iain Armitage's brainiac, a pre-teen. To that end, Penn Jillette will take on the role of Acne Vulgaris, according to TVLine, while Teller will play...Pus.
I'm not sure what Larry Fowler would say about all this. Well,it would almost definitely nothing, but you get my point.
Young Sheldon showrunner and co-creator Steve Molaro shared the idea behind this inspired bit of casting, saying:
We thought it was a fun idea to personify the pimple, so we were thinking about who would be right for Acne Vulgaris. When we landed on Penn, he seemed so perfect, and it’s hard not to think of Teller when you think of Penn. Once Penn agreed to do it, we circled around to say, ‘How would you guys feel about doing it together, as Acne and Pus?’ They were very into it, and just a delight to work with from beginning to end.
Steve Molaro also spoke to the idea that fans will no doubt wonder about seeing Teller's face within this universe in a way that isn't related to Mayim Bialik's Big Bang Theory character. And he understands there may be some questions, but also thinks there's enough separation here to thwart ample confusion. In his words:
He knew what it was, and I think he knows this is set in the past. It’s a [different set of] characters here, and you know it’s Penn and Teller.
Who knows, though? Perhaps Pus will make a passing comment about having a human daughter in the future that ends up marrying the character that he's currently inside the pimple of, but I doubt it. And it's probably for the best, since that's a pretty specific rabbit hole to go down, considering Sheldon is about to enter Puberty-ville.
While Young Sheldon apparently won't be offering up any informational nuggets about Amy and Larry's past together, perhaps fans can look forward to seeing some stories about that relationship in the upcoming book The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series, which will be released on October 11, 2022.
Airing amidst a batch of other big TV finales, Young Sheldon will wrap up Season 5 with its concluding episode "A Clogged Pore, a Little Spanish and the Future" on Thursday, May 19, at 8:00 p.m. ET. Those who wish to see Penn & Teller's talents on display in a different capacity can check out their work on The Masked Singer's latest season.
