THR Frontrunners Q&A With the Cast and Creators of 'Young Sheldon' | THR Video

I feel like we knew from the pilot, we all met and it, we were like outside in a courtyard and the kids upon meeting just, you know, launched and they were running in circles. And we, I think we all kind of just with the adults probably just looked around. We were like, OK, well, you know, it seems like an instant family. Thank you all for joining us. Thank you all for joining us and congratulations on this final season and what a run seven seasons. You know, I naturally we're going to talk about these last two episodes, but I wanted to kind of take it back from the beginning and talk to to Chuck and Steve and Steve about, you know, developing this project. And, you know, obviously you're taking a show that's a spin off of a previous show. What were things that you really wanted to make sure Young Sheldon stood out as its own entity beyond just The Big Bang Theory, and how did you manage to do that across these seven seasons? Well, we knew we were starting with an exceptional child, but a big part of the work was how he impacts on his family. And and so it very quickly became an ensemble, a family show about how this little boy changes the family and the family impacts on him. So it, it, it, it got a lot richer and warmer as a result of not making it about so much Sheldon as about his entire environment, including all the people in it and, and this extraordinary group of adults, Steve and Steve, you know, I I hope I got those right, Steve and Steve right. I'm curious, like building an ensemble around a family like this. Like, what are, you know, what are the exciting parts about it? And also the challenges, especially, you know, when your star is, is one of the kids. How do you build these adults? Well, the kids were young, so they had limits on their hours, but we could work these guys forever. So, you know, that let us really build out some other stories. Yeah, Well, I remember how electric the night was when we were trying to figure out who could possibly play Sheldon's mom, and we realized that we had the actual daughter of the first Sheldon's mom. And I, my, my e-mail was blowing up, but I didn't know what it was. It was because she was like, could you imagine if Zoe Perry would do it? Is she the right age? And they were like, this could be amazing. This is like in the stars. This is cosmic. And clearly it was. So that was I remember. That was a big night for us. I was the lucky one there. Zoe, you know, I would love to hear you talk about taking on this complex role, this mother who is kind of running a family, you know, is, is parenting a gifted child. There's so much happening with her at all the time. Did you experience that like kind of going into like playing a mother role, someone who's like kind of spread thin and recognizing like as the actress, like which parts are more important to her, how, how to prioritize those elements of her character? Well, I mean, everything always went back to the scripts. I felt like I was so taken care of in in what my motivation was and and what the challenges were in any particular interaction, be it with the kids or husband or mom. And, and I feel like, you know, that friction between Mary and Sheldon of these sort of opposing forces, but then who are also like drawn together, you know, the the differing ideologies, but the deep rooted love and and respect for each other was just always so, you know, rich. And I feel like elements of that played into all of our relationships because that's life. And I feel like that's also, I mean, what was so well written always was, I think, and what people always related to, you know, when I would hear from viewers was just how personal it felt to them. But that message was universal because I would I would hear it abroad, I would hear it everywhere. I'd hear it from different cultures. So clearly, you know, the just family dynamic is what really I think spoke to everybody. Lance playing a a dad in this in this unit. Did you kind of feel the same way that it was kind of built on set, this family? Not at all. It was, you know, in the most cliched ways, it was intrinsic. You know, it's hard to be spend that much time with people and with little people. Those young people make it happen. Make it so. I mean, you can't There's, there's a natural dynamic and, and you know, some of us are parents already. And it just fell into a a natural thing that I think was certainly carried over onto the screen. It was just there. It was clear and obvious just by a little time spent together and with, again, at the risk of being cliche, it was everybody liked each other. So the time together spent, especially when we started was pretty magical. So Annie, you know, you're playing me Ma, the matriarch of this family in a way, kind of someone who's revered that level within a family. Is that were there surprising responsibilities playing this character on screen for you? Well, I, I felt like, I mean, really in, in life, we had more responsibilities on the set because I mean, they're, they were little kids and only 15 when we finished. So we know we had to be delicate around them. And, you know, sometimes they were not real well behaved. It'd be like this little Dick. I'm going to kill him. It's like he's working like a grown up. OK, back off. But, you know, we had to love him and we had to, you know, feel that, you know, we were their little village and we needed to protect them no matter what. So I felt the the responsibilities, the human responsibilities in a human situation where more or harder the acting, I mean, I was just playing my mother. So no problem. You know, I want to get to obviously the the end of the series and, and what happens with George and the family. And, you know, I kind of want to toss it to the group and and really understand, you know, how, you know, when you knew that this was going to happen in the show, how like what those early conversations were of tackling such heavy material in, you know, a light hearted network sitcom. Not that that's not been, you know, that's it's a well worn territory where a genre where that kind of storylines can be told. But I'm curious like right now, like what were those challenges? I mean, I think we knew, like we knew this event was coming. I think Lance knew probably from the beginning. We knew from Big Bang Theory that his dad died and we knew that it was an important part of Sheldon and adult Sheldon's life. And even, you know, Mary and Meemaw, how it affected them when they became who they became on Big Bang. So we didn't want to shy away from doing it, but it became hard as we got to it because we had spent seven years with this, with this character and with this actor and getting to, you know, getting to those moments where you're writing his farewells was really emotional. Just even in the writers room, even talking about it, there were tears and tissues being tossed around. So I, I love that, that, you know, as when we brought it to a close that we saw it for seven years, how this family loved this little boy and it was hard. He was a challenge and and and he didn't appreciate it until he was a father himself. He didn't you know, and that was the most things to be most proud of is about how we landed the plane was Jim Parsons playing Sheldon as an adult learns rather late that his family didn't get him at all and loved him unconditionally. Which what a wonderful way to say goodbye on this series. And I, I think Lance can speak to how from the beginning we would often hear, well, based on what we knew from Big Bang Theory, why, why isn't George as terrible as we thought? And, and I know you got that question a lot. And it's sort of the beginnings of us finding our way to the thought of Sheldon's much older now and has kids of his own that he doesn't understand and is starting to look at his parents in a, in a, in a new light and, and telling these stories from his past to to honor them. I had to figure out a way initially, certainly to justify what we already knew. Right. And and Chuck had such good advice right away of we have to like this guy and we didn't like this guy. I don't think so much on The Big Bang Theory other than for a laugh. You know, Sheldon turned out to be an unreliable narrator. He was an unreliable narrator, as I think we all are and we all regarding our parents. Absolutely. And that's the angle I took when I started was that, you know, we all see our parents as as adults at some point. Hopefully we see them as humans where in a in a way that we never did before. And that the narrator of the show, that's that's what this was. And so that was my guiding light for any of the George stuff. And Lance is just so likable. It's hard to to make him. We cast him because we thought he was going to be a jerk. And then he turns out to be wonderful. Well, Lance, for you especially, you know, obviously for everyone, this closing chapter must have been very emotional. But you know, you've played this character, you've been inside his head for seven years. What is it like to kind of come to that end for him, for you? I'll share a quick anecdote that I shared before, but I went to I was in the casket for the day that we shot. I was asked if I wanted to be, I think they could have done a dummy in there right with a face cast or something. And I said, of course I want to be there because I've got plans. I'm going to ruin a lot of takes. I've got a fart machine I'm going to carry in the casket with me. I've got a mustache and funny teeth. I'm going to, I'm really going to crack people up. And when they shot all day, I was there and I finally had a short time in the casket to shoot the overs. And these actors, they walked up in succession to talk to George and had their moments with him. And all of those were out the when I didn't do any of my funny bits, I laid there and and pulled tears in my ears the entire time. It hit me pretty hard in a way I didn't anticipate, actually. And that was on top of being kind of proud and grateful for having a character actors kind of dream of having a memorable television character. I've heard it compared to the end of MASH or, you know, things like this. I mean, it hit people. And I will have a legacy of that as a, as a character actor who got this job and will have that be part of my history. And I'm, I'm little more than extremely grateful for that. It was very daunting about like two months till the end, seeing everything approach, knowing what was coming, knowing you wouldn't be there and and be sort of jealous how you were going out because I was like, I want to climb into that casket and go out too. I was scared to do all the rest. There was even one moment when we were shooting all of these wonderful female characters we had because our ensemble, I mean, you guys created a world and it was incredible. We had so many wonderful people. Melissa Peterman. Reba McEntire. Rachel Bay Jones Different people were coming over with casseroles and the the day had turned into a salon, like you were hosting it. They had pulled a couch out and everyone's like laughing. And at one point I walk by and Reagan is like, you're still here, like I'm working. But but it was man, it was, it was, it was a challenge, but but looking back on it too, it was like such a a remarkable experience to have like walked through that. Don't you think? Annie, I mean, Annie and I would kind of just be bleeding on each other. I started to wish it had been my funeral. I I so I could just lay there and hear all the lovely things that people thought about me, cry over me and everything. I started to really dislike Lance because he'd stolen my Thunder. I thought I was the oldest character. I should have died. Can we take a minute to talk about your two eulogies and how just astoundingly amazing they were? Just some of the I, I can't believe how incredible those moments were from from YouTube. I think. I mean, we were really proud of the script we wrote. But to watch you guys bring it to life and the, the funeral scene you watched, we shot over 2 1/2 or three days. We were in that church shooting those scenes. And you guys stayed in that emotional place the whole time. Like when we were on your back, when we were in wide shots. Like I'm just remember watching you guys and being actually exhausted by just being so emotional and in tears. And you had to be up there and do it like over and over again. And for, you know, for 2 1/2 days, you guys stayed in that space and gave those incredible performances again and again. And it was really something incredible to watch. And just the way Lance laid there, impressive. It it was surreal to be grieving in character and then grieving the end of our show. I mean, these were it was a lot of grieving. It was, it was a lot of yeah, it was a lot of grief. I mean, it, it was it was real. Yeah. And I remember there was a scene when you were going up to the casket to give your farewell. And I think on your last performance, you really broke down and it was really affecting. And we were sitting back by the monitors and Reagan was sitting next to us and she's sobbing, watching you do it. And you finish and she's like, actually, can I go again? I think I'm sobbing the right amount. And how can I go one more time? Well, Reagan went back up to do one. The the moment of that was you, Steve, asking if there was one because it was it was written maybe a little bit more somber, right? And then it was like one, you know, could we have one where maybe she she breaks down a bit? And so I went up again and, yeah, he, as he said, had just been pummeled by, you know, family speeches and and last words. And so he started tearing, which made it all the easier for me to break down. Yeah. Well, when the corpse is crying, you know, you're in trouble. Spin off sad ghost. There's, you know, there's something Steve, in the middle here. You, you brought up about, you know, kind of being really proud of the script that you wrote and then saying what they did with it really took it above and beyond. And I'm, I'm very curious about the relationship between television writers and their ensemble. Because obviously when you make a, you, you write a movie, you know, people sit in there alone at home, make a movie or write a movie script, you shoot it. I feel like with TV, you have this incredible opportunity to work with great actors and understand what they can bring to their characters. And so I'm very curious if there's anything that you notice almost immediately with these three about what they were bringing and that influenced how you were writing the character at all. I mean, I think it was a lesson we actually took from Chuck from way back when, which is, you know, you have an idea of what the show is, but you have to be open to let the show grow and take you in surprising directions. You can't just force it into this idea that you initially had. And a lot of that's watching these actors and what they bring to the role, like, you know, Lance being so lovely and such a wonderful person, changed who George was. And, you know, and Annie obviously just being Annie changed who Meemaw was. And suddenly Meemaw's not just his grandmother, but she's got this act of love life and she's running a gambling casino and she's a force of nature. And, you know, I'm not saying Annie's running a gambling casino, but after this, if you want the code. So no, absolutely. I think we always try to keep ourselves sort of alive to what these actors were doing and bringing to the role and and start shaping the characters to that. And from the actors. I would love to hear that on your side of the of the perspective, you know, did you feel a freedom to play around with, you know, who these characters were wasn't really by the page and kind of sticklers to it. I think there was a lot to honor on the page. It was very clear, as you said before, what was there was so ready to work with and clear that they knew us. It was a neat experience for me to have worked on something for so long and knew that the writers knew me I never had. And so to have the opportunity to understand and realize, oh, they're writing to me. They know me, they're writing a thing that I do and now they're using that. You know, to recognize that that would happen in a couple of different ways was so cool, so flattering and and such a neat experience to such as something Annie mentioned. I'm I'm very curious if there's anything you've learned from your younger Co stars as actors at this point in your career. It cannot be spoken of publicly. You can pass. But Zoe Lance, my favorite little story about working with him in in the beginning I was, we were doing a dinner scene, which they would go on forever to. I mean, you know, to just go out to a restaurant with children is one thing, but to have an 8 hour day with children at the table? Anyway, So Reagan was next to me and just cuz she got bored and she had a lot of energy somewhere doing the thing, she found my sleeve and put her little fingers up my shirt and she started to examine the little fleshy part back there and she really worked it. I mean she got everything she could out of that. And I thought, this child is so free, You know, it's just I thought I don't know if I would feel as comfortable with, say, grown up actor just to feel their arm up on camera. But I mentioned it to another actor and they said, why didn't you tell her to stop? And I said, are you kidding? That stuff was gold. Go on, honey. Silly Lance, how about you? Did you take anything away from? Well, they were always, I mean, they were always so present. So it it definitely, they were always so present. Yeah. But yeah, during the scene and during cut. So it definitely made you stay in it with them. But again, I think that really fed into the family dynamic, you know, I mean, we were playing with kids and then on our toes for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I needed some prep time. Oh, yes, they would say action and the kids would just go out of screaming, out of conversation. They had an ability. It really would be yeah, screaming, screaming, screaming, action. And you know, they're in and they drop and. And we were like, can I just have, we need 3 seconds, I need 3 seconds and five breaths before I go it. It was never understood that we that our brains didn't function the same way. So did you try to impart that wisdom onto the impossible? Impossible and wasn't necessary. They didn't need it, clearly. Of course, every actor is his own process. They didn't need it. Well, then Ian started to learn Russian. That's true. Me too. And he got very good at it very quickly. And he knew a lot of songs in Russian, all kinds of things. And especially at the dinner table, he liked to sing them. Now I'm no fan of Putin, so I really didn't enjoy the Russian. Also, it was in in in in advanced hours with it. And he would and then it'd be like, oh, and past the grits. So I said, you've got to stop that. You got to stop that with the Russian. I said, it's scrambling my brain. I'm old and I can't take it. And then he turned very red and he he's crestfallen. I was like, oh, I don't need this, OK, You've driven me crazy with the Russian. I could hardly remember my lines. Don't don't play that game anyway. So there there were challenges to to do that and and then he learned Hungarian. Anyway, fun. He was just fun. Kind of one last question for the entire group. We can just kind of go down the line, starting with Lance. But you know, you started this show seven years ago, seven seasons ago. Obviously, it's a prequel to an extremely popular show, so I'm sure the stakes were very high. I bet they're a part of you that probably like, this is going to be great. But I'm sure there's also part of you that, like, this could be scary and terrible. Who knows? Who knows how people are going to respond to this? I'm very curious. When did it first dawn on you that the show was the gem that it was? Lindsay, you remember? I just remember people telling me. Yeah, I remember saying that you from the business, like you just hit the jackpot and get ready. We kept saying get ready. And then when the show came out, that continued to come from people in the business in the know and then from fans right away it was obvious. And of course there was we didn't know. Of course we didn't know. We'd hoped and all the stuff was there, but we didn't know. But it was pretty apparent pretty quickly in my recollection. Oh, yeah. I mean, I, I feel like we knew from the pilot. I mean, it, it was such an exciting thing to be a part of and knowing, yeah, the world that we were, you know, attached to the incredible fan base of that. And just what a privilege that was to be connected to it. And then when we started the pilot, I mean, I, I truly felt such a, you know, like connection to this guy. Just when we auditioned together. And then from the moment, God, I was, I was thinking about this when we were doing some like behind the scenes footage and I ugly cried like out of nowhere because they said, do you remember, you know, meeting the kids for the first time? And I did. And the memory was so vivid that it just took me aback. But we all met and it we were like outside in a courtyard and the kids upon meeting just, you know, launched and they were running in circles. And Montana, who was always so calm, was kind of letting them crawl on him, you know, all over. And and we, I think we all kind of just the adults probably just looked around. We were like, OK, well, you know, it seems like an instant family. And yeah, I think, I think it just from the get it was like, wow, how lucky. Annie, how about you? Do you remember? Do you remember a moment where you're like, this is great? I yes, I do. I thought, I'm working with ferrets. Wow. If they're just three little ferrets, they are. I love kids. I have three of my own. Yeah, I love them. So I knew when I saw the pilot of it, and I wasn't even in that. They sent it to me, said you want to be part of this. And it was like, yes, I do. But yeah, it was a delight the whole time. How about you guys? As far as when? I don't know when we knew, but I am. I'm comfortable to say that Chuck and I were terrified from the beginning, all through the whole pilot, maybe even after we saw the pilot just is this, is this going to be OK? What what are we doing? And we had never done single camera show before. So it was a it was a it was a wild time. The only word that comes to mind is fear. Just. Yeah, just absolutely trusting that, you know, we were making good choices. But no, we didn't know we were we were we were learning as we went. You know, I have to just as you were talking about the ferrets. I just remember early on, you know, you walk on and walk on set and and and Reagan and admit that would come running and climb all over your Mr. Chuck, Mr. Chuck, Mr. Chuck, you know, this last year walk on the set and Reagan ago. And that's appropriate, right? That's that's 15, not eight. It was wonderful to it was it was challenging, but it was wonderful to watch these kids grow up. You know, and we and I and I'm really proud we did create a safe space. It doesn't necessarily have to be a safe space. It's not a natural space for little kids. It's a work environment, There's a lot of stress and pressure and enormous amounts of money are being wagered as to whether this is going to work or not. And I, I, I like to believe that that these, these kids, you know, were protected the entire time. Well, thank you all again for joining us tonight and congratulations on the show and seven incredible seasons. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much.