Young Sheldon almost explored a much edgier affair story line but concerns off screen affected the planned trajectory.
Jessica Radloff‘s tell-all book Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy, which is out now, addressed the initial vision for how the prequel could touch on adult Sheldon (Jim Parsons) from The Big Bang Theory claiming his dad, George Sr. (Lance Barber), was unfaithful to wife Mary (Zoe Perry).
Cocreator Steve Molaro recalled Warner Bros. Television’s PR department getting “concerned that there might be some backlash” against Melissa Peterman, whose character Brenda formed an emotional connection with George.
“Because the fans were so protective of George and Mary,” he explained. “They had the best interest of the show at heart, so we were asked to say something to stay ahead of it just in case that happened.”
Molaro ultimately released a statement in 2021 after an episode that hinted at a possible romance between the fictional characters.
“Big Bang fans have heard Sheldon tell stories about his dad for years,” read the statement. “We try to honor those stories but also like to find unexpected ways for them to play out. As we’ve learned in the first four seasons of Young Sheldon, these stories adult Sheldon is telling us come from a new perspective—one he has gained after becoming a father himself. Sometimes life gets complicated, but we’re excited to explore these new chapters in the lives of the Coopers.”
Peterman, 55, for her part, wasn’t concerned about negative feedback. (The actress previously played the other woman on the sitcom Reba.)
“It was all I was asked about. I got a lot of ‘Don’t you dare hurt George Cooper!’ And Steve Molaro said, ‘You know, when we have that little scene with you and Lance, you might get a lot of hate because they know everything, and if you’re the other woman,'” she recalled. “But I said, ‘Steve, I bought a house playing the other woman on Reba. I can handle it, it’s fine.'”
She continued: “But people did yell at me on the street. ‘You stay away from George!’ That was a big deal.”
Young Sheldon ultimately had Brenda and George consider leaving a bar to go somewhere private —with the implication that they would sleep together. George, however, suffered heart issues from the stress of the situation and was taken to the hospital.
Mary, for her part, wasn’t fully aware of the close dynamic between Brenda and George until later. Instead, Mary found herself developing feelings for coworker Pastor Rob (Dan Byrd). The Coopers later addressed how the distance in their marriage led to emotional affairs but nothing physical happened with people outside of their relationship.
According to showrunners Molaro and Steve Holland, cocreator Chuck Lorre “is still upset to this day” that Brenda and George didn’t have sex.
“He feels like it was a cop out and a little bit bulls***ty,” Holland said before Molaro added, “Chuck would be leaning toward a physical affair happening, and we were probably leaning away from it happening, but it was never a fight. We would discuss the ins and outs of the implications and what it would mean and how it would affect seeing George later. It would have been a bold choice, and there’s a world where it could have happened. It almost did. We talked about it and we talked about it and we talked about it, and what was the show going to feel like if we did.”
Lorre recalled having “very mixed feelings” about “going down that road and bailing,” adding, “To the extent that you don’t let your characters make mistakes — and pay for them. We pay for our sins, we surely do on television … And we did not do that. We did not go down that road. We certainly skirted around the edges of it. But they did have an emotional affair. He cheated on his wife in his heart.”
Barber, 53, admitted that he was “glad that they didn’t have George cheat.” Since the character was going to die one season later, the writers and cast alike questioned whether there would be enough time to properly address the fallout of an affair — and bring George and Mary back together with enough time before he was killed off.
“It was pretty complicated to show for an eighteen-minute network sitcom, and it would make it more complicated,” the actor noted. “Now if it were the HBO version, we could have really gotten juicy.”
Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy is out now.
