CBS and Warner Brothers Television have been quietly working on a spin-off project of their acclaimed hit “The Big Bang Theory,” which is untitled at the moment. However, the project is going to be a “Malcolm in The Middle” style comedy that centers around Sheldon Cooper as a young boy in Texas. Fans of “The Big Bang Theory” will remember that Sheldon often talks about how he was a fish out of the water in rural Texas growing up and his family members have often made visits on the show to help flush out how different he was from his kin.
A singular focus
The new project would focus on Sheldon as a young child prodigy, growing up with his overly religious mother and his pesky siblings.
Iain Armitage from HBO's “Big Little Lies” is set to portray Sheldon Cooper and Zoe Perry from “The Family” is set to play Sheldon's religious mother, Mary Cooper. The prequel show is being developed by “The Big Bang Theory” co-creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre, executive producer and showrunner Steve Molaro, and Jim Parsons, the current actor who portrays Sheldon Cooper on “The Big Bang Theory.”
Meet the Coopers!
“The Big Bang Theory” has spent years entertaining us with the antics of Sheldon Cooper and his roommate Leonard, along with their quirky band of friends and romantic interests, but the Sheldon project could be something special.
A show like the Sheldon project, in the same vein as “Malcolm in the Middle” or “The Wonder Years,” could potentially be a very endearing and entertaining show to watch. More importantly, Sheldon has regaled the audience with stories of his youth and his unique family that he was vastly different from him growing up in rural Texas. Fans are left to wonder how much his father will be around.
The missing father figure
Sheldon's father is never shown in “The Big Bang Theory” because he passed away when Sheldon was fourteen years old. A lot of Sheldon's idiosyncrasies can be linked to his father, such as his obsession with knocking three times on every door he is about to enter. Sheldon once walked in on his redneck simpleton father having an affair, so he has been emotionally scarred since then to the point where he always knocks three times on every door before entering.
The Sheldon project could show us some of these pivotal moments in Sheldon's early life that helped form the quirky, habit-driven geek we have all come to love on “The Big Bang Theory.”
Returning cast members
Of course, Jim Parsons could never portray Sheldon on the new spin-off show, and most of the cast of “The Big Bang Theory” would likely never be able to appear on the spin-off since most of the characters would not have known Sheldon yet. Yet, certain characters from the show could certainly return such as Sheldon's infamous grandmother and his twin sister. The project is not officially announced, named, or even dated yet, but expect more on this secret project as the pilot continues to shape up for the show.