George Cooper will return in Georgie & Mandy but it’s already made one mistake

Look alive, Young Sheldon fans – the impossible is happening. Despite being six foot under, George Cooper is making his Georgie & Mandy debut… with a huge mistake.

I won’t lie to you Sheldonheads, I’m desperate to take the credit for this one. When I interviewed actor Lance Barber in October 2024, he revealed he was “open” to the right cameo in Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.

“If the writers decided to do that, they would do that in a thoughtful and classy way as opposed to a stunt to get people to watch the ghost of George Cooper return. If that could be done, then I would consider it. Otherwise, I’m really satisfied,” he told me.

Just three months later and the prophecy has come true. Now the new TV show’s co-creators have teased some information, I can’t help thinking there’s already a huge problem.

George returns to Georgie & Mandy in a dream

Chuck Lorre, Steve Holland, and Steven Molaro confirmed during a panel on set that George will be returning to Georgie & Mandy in the form of a dream. The exact episode and air date have not been confirmed.

Instagram/Steve Molaro

“His dad visits him in a dream,” Holland explained [via TV Line]. “George is thinking about his dad, and he’s worried that his dad might be disappointed in him…. [The idea] came out of a conversation we’d had with Chuck, even early on, talking about the show.

“Chuck had said about his own father that he still dreams about him, he still visits him, so that was a thing we had thought about. And then when we were breaking this episode, it just seemed like a great opportunity to bring George back.”

While we already knew how Barber felt about coming back after George’s death, Holland seemed equally optimistic.

“If we found the right sort of emotional reason for Georgie [to see him], and it didn’t just feel like a stunt — like, here’s George Sr. crawling his way out of the grave — and we treated it respectfully, it would be great to have Lance back on,” he clarified in November.

CBS

Molaro further shared a sneak preview of George’s scene on Instagram. He can be seen sat with Georgie at the breakfast table in the Cooper household, almost as if the traumatic Young Sheldon Season 7 ending never happened.

If you don’t remember, the father-son duo had a love-hate relationship through all seasons of Young Sheldon. George was convinced his son was a dumb layabout, but was gradually impressed by Georgie’s natural salesmanship skills.

Georgie regularly visits George’s grave to share his thoughts and seek advice, but we’ve never seen a physical version of his dad. He’s also taken Missy and Mary along to seek some solace of their own.

Prior to this, Georgie told George at his funeral that he was going to make his dad proud and take care of the family.

His comeback means something is definitely missing

Now we know how George is set to return to Georgie & Mandy, it could still be largely unsatisfying if he doesn’t reconnect with Mary and Missy at all.

CBS

It goes without saying that if our breakfast table scene is all we see, George will no doubt reference the rest of his family. He could even go as far as to ask Georgie to give them each a message. As beautiful as the moment would be, it loses some poignancy by becoming second-hand information.

We’ve seen Georgie really struggle with his dad’s death, and there’s no question he needs some fatherly love and advice in his life. However, the people who would benefit from seeing George the most are Mary and Missy.

Since Young Sheldon came to an end, Missy’s life seems to have quietly spiraled. She’s being thrown out of school for reckless behavior, she’s getting tattoos, and even experimenting with drugs. Nobody is properly listening to her – as is the story of her life – and it’s likely only George could stop her from wrecking her formative years.

CBS

Meanwhile, Mary has become a different person since George’s death. Her emotions are still very raw, with the Thanksgiving episode being the perfect example of Mary being stuck in her grief. She’s doubled down on her religious faith, pushing everybody else away in the process.

Seeing this play out through Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage rather than Young Sheldon Season 8 is a downside, because we have to see things through Georgie’s perspective. This arguably limits the emotional impact of George’s return, but more importantly doesn’t give us what we really want: the Coopers all back together again.

Check out our Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage review and our recap of Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, and Episode 7.

You can also catch up with the five things the spinoff needs to fix and when the next episode airs.