Age is Just a Number For The Cast of YOUNG SHELDON, With College-Level Challenges in Store For Season 4

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Look at how young that little kid is! Hilariously, that’s what 12-year-old Iain Armitage thinks when he looks back at the earliest episodes of YOUNG SHELDON. Season 4 of the hit sitcom, in which Armitage plays the title character, debuts Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on CTV. The Sheldon character is 11 as the new season begins, while Armitage turned 12 last summer. Three or four years can go by in the blink of an eye for an older adult, but does the debut of the show back in 2017 feel like a lifetime ago to Armitage? Does he cringe at his youthful appearance, or lament his rookie acting choices? “I still had little chubby cheeks!” Armitage replied. “I look back at pictures now and I’m like, ‘Wow.’ I remember thinking, ‘Oh boy, I’m 9, I’m so mature now, I’m so grown up.’ And I look at it now, and I look 2. Whenever I see the pilot, I think, ‘I would have done things SO differently.’ It’s funny you asked that, because it’s exactly how I feel.” “Welcome to being an actor,” chimed in Zoe Perry, who plays Sheldon’s mom Mary. YOUNG SHELDON, of course, is a prequel to THE BIG BANG THEORY, with Jim Parsons – who played the adult Sheldon – providing narration. In what has stood up as brilliant casting both in theory and in practice, Perry is the real-life daughter of Laurie Metcalf, who portrayed the older Mary on THE BIG BANG THEORY. Having quickly developed its own feel and comic style, YOUNG SHELDON certainly is its own entity now, even as it inevitably marches chronologically toward the era in which THE BIG BANG THEORY existed. So these days, do the actors on YOUNG SHELDON think less about philosophically lining up with the future versions of their characters, or more? “When I was first starting out, I definitely wanted to make sure of some of the physicality, and some fundamental things,” Perry said. “But now I don’t think about it to a great extent. I’ve always kind of taken a cue from the writers about where Mary is emotionally, developmentally, in this moment. Because clearly her relationship with Sheldon is very specific when Sheldon is an adult, right? I mean, there’s still this maternal aspect, but because she’s still juggling the things that she’s juggling at her own age, and his young age, it does feel like a different Mary.” Armitage has a slightly different approach. “I do always try to keep in mind what Sheldon becomes when he’s an adult, and that’s really helpful,” he said. “But at the same time, I’m also kind of trying to make it my own thing because, you know, people are very different when they’re 11 or 12 – I’m 12 now, but in the show I think I’m 11 – from when they’re an adult. So I think I’m trying to find a good balance between being very different, but also being similar enough for people to recognize.” Sheldon’s accelerated academic path is certainly something that’s recognizable. Season 4 begins with his high school graduation, and everyone knows what comes next. “Sheldon is going to be entering college, much to Mary’s chagrin,” Perry said. “And I’m sure there will be some interesting hurdles as a result of that.” Armitage added, “It’s a whole other league for Sheldon. It’ll be so different for him in college, but also so much fun.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv