Was Young Sheldon shot in the finale?

Cameron Frew
Young Sheldon and an edited image of Sheldon on Walter White's body from Breaking Bad

A “brutal” version of Young Sheldon’s ending has emerged on social media — so was he shot, or is it all one big Bazinga?

Young Sheldon fans were nervous ahead of the finale; how could The Big Bang Theory prequel wrap everything up in just two episodes, including George’s funeral, the impact of his death on the family, and Sheldon leaving Texas for Caltech?

Season 7 Episode 13 mostly focused on the funeral and how each of the Coopers processed their grief, before skipping ahead 27 days in Episode 14, with Sheldon packing up his stuff as Mary “falls apart” and tries to rationalize all of her pain through god and the church.

This is all pretty weighty stuff, but it turns out Young Sheldon’s final moments had been decided for some time — so, was he shot, like some people believe online?

Was Young Sheldon shot?

No, Young Sheldon was not shot in the last episode. The show ended with him arriving at Caltech and telling a professor he’s “exactly where [he’s] supposed to be” before striding off into the distance.

Hilariously, this confusion stems from a (rather convincing) PhotoShopped image of Sheldon lying on the ground with a gunshot wound. It was posted by thewapplehouse, who wrote: “Jesus that Young Sheldon ending was brutal.”

It’s actually an image of Walter White at the end of Breaking Bad, when he slumps onto the ground after rescuing Jesse from Jack and his Nazi cohorts.

A few other amazing edits have been shared, like Sheldon superimposed onto Paul Dano’s body at the end of There Will Be Blood and Joe Pesci’s head in Goodfellas. Nevertheless, it’s left some people confused.

“What? Is this a spoiler? Is this real?” one wrote. “I don’t watch it, but I’m nosy, he was killed?! How?” another tweeted. “Wth happened!? I haven’t watched the show since the first season because I forgot about it,” a third wrote.

Obviously, others are leaning into the joke. “That last shootout was brilliantly filmed. Props to the director for this bold choice and to the studio for signing off on it,” one wrote, while another posted, “Jim Parsons singing the entirety of Badfinger’s ‘Baby Blue’ was a strange choice of ending, but honestly I didn’t mind it.”

You can check our breakdown of Young Sheldon’s actual ending, as well as details about Georgie and Mandy’s spinoff and other binge-worthy TV shows to add to your list.