‘Young Sheldon’ actor Ian Armitage says goodbye to character who died on the show

The actor paid a tribute to the character on Instagram, writing “Love you.”

Iain Armitage, the actor who portrays a young Sheldon Cooper on the CBS sitcom “Young Sheldon,” recently took to Instagram to express his condolences following the departure of a series regular.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Iain Armitage (@iain)

“Love you, George! Love you, Lance!!!” Armitage wrote as a farewell for his late TV dad, George Sr., played by actor Lance Barber.

Fans knew this moment was coming. The season 7 episode “A New Home and a Traditional Texas Torture” aligned with the storyline of “The Big Bang Theory,” where Sheldon mentions his father passing away when he was 14.

With Armitage's Sheldon now reaching that age in “Young Sheldon,” the series depicted George Sr. suffering a heart attack at work in the episode's closing moments.

In an interview with Variety, executive producer Steve Holland discussed the creative decision. “We wanted to do it in a way that was hopefully a little surprising,” he said. “Even though they know it's going to come, maybe they won't see it coming then.”

Holland also acknowledged Barber's awareness of his character's fate. “He's known since the beginning of the show that George Sr. had an expiration date,” Holland revealed.

“We stretched one year out into a couple seasons to keep Lance alive as far as we could. But he always knew this was coming.” Holland added, “And I think also it being the last season made it a little easier on him.”

The two-part series finale of Young Sheldon will air on CBS next Thursday, May 16th. Holland hinted at how the remaining episodes will play out, saying, “You know, the Coopers have to deal with their grief over the death of George Sr. And Sheldon has to prepare to start his life journey onto Caltech in California.”