“Young Sheldon” might have been one of the most light-hearted sitcoms in recent memory, but that doesn’t mean every episode had to be filled with wall-to-wall with humor. That’s what the creators of the show discovered when they tackled their most devastating episode of the show’s seven season run: the funeral for their dearly departed father, George Cooper Sr., played by Lance Barber. Although George’s death had been foretold on “The Big Bang Theory,” that didn’t make this parting any easier for the cast and crew of “Young Sheldon.”
As originally shot, the show’s penultimate episode, “Funeral,” was full of all the trademark jokes and humor that had made “Young Sheldon” so popular. However, when executive producer and co-showrunner Steven Holland sat down in the editing room, it became clear that it had a problem: the jokes felt incongruous with the emotions the characters would be feeling in this moment.
“I think what we found was that there were some jokes and some lighter moments that were shot that, going into the edit, started to feel a little tone deaf,” Holland told TVLine when the episode premiered. “It felt like, ‘This family is grieving, and maybe we don’t need make a silly joke at this moment.'” This revelation allowed the show to tackle George’s funeral with all the seriousness that the moment deserved, not skipping out on any of the tough stages of grief that followed.
A growing cast enabled the show’s creators to tackle the pathos of the funeral
It’s one thing to decide to add more emotion to a family-friendly comedy, but it requires a cast that is game for the dramatic shift — and the crew behind “Young Sheldon” credits their young stars’ growing acting prowess for pulling off this risky move. “We knew at this point that the kids were gonna knock this out of the park,” Holland explained to Parade following the series’ end, noting how Raegan Revord (who played Missy on the show) sold it best of all.
These emotions transcended the characters and worked their way into the cast, who Holland describes as “grieving the end of the show” alongside the characters grieving their father. “So, there were tears readily at hand for everybody.” In the end, it was important that “Young Sheldon” pivoted away from the comedic elements of the show in favor of the emotional catharsis for its characters and the audience alike.
“We wanted to be very respectful of George as a character and what his passing meant to this family,” Holland added. “I think we realized that we could give ourselves permission to be a little more serious and have a little more weight in this moment, which felt very real to us.” While Holland is proud of the work they did across all seven seasons of the show, he knows that the end was particularly special. It’s no wonder that audiences would return for “George & Mandy’s First Marriage” (already renewed for a third season) the following fall.