Young Sheldon: Are Mandy and Penny connected?

Some fans think that Young Sheldon’s Mandy might be connected to The Big Bang Theory’s Penny – but is there any truth to it?

It’s true – Young Sheldon is drawing to a close with Season 7 in the next few weeks. However, it’s not all bad news, with Georgie and Mandy confirmed to be having their own spin-off series.

It’s as-of-yet unknown how Mandy might fit into the final series of Young Sheldon – but judging by what we know about Georgie in The Big Bang Theory, it’s safe to assume things didn’t end amazingly.

However, some fans think they might be onto another connection between the series, asking if Mandy and TBBT’s Penny have anything in common – but how much truth is there to the claims?

Young Sheldon: Are Mandy and Penny connected?

No, Young Sheldon’s Mandy and The Big Bang Theory’s Penny aren’t connected – but some fans think that they could be given the similarities between the pair’s appearances.

“Anyone else think Mandy reminds them of Penny? I can’t put my finger on why but she just does,” one curious Redditor posted on a thread. “The facial expression in that photo is similar to one Mandy has had. Their mouth is slightly open in the same way. The shape and size of their eyes and eyebrows are similar. From the angel of the photos, Their noses look similar as well. They both have slightly larger faces but the face shapes are different. Their hair looks similar sometimes,” added another.

A third fan mused: “They’re both sassy blondes with a high EQ but not IQ, or rather: they’re far better at social interactions and less so in STEM subjects. from Sheldon’s perspective, this creates an internal conflict of not respecting them for their lack of intelligence (which he does with everyone) and respecting the hell out of them (subconsciously at least) for their social skills. it’s also why he outright hates Howard, who is neither intelligent nor social (by Sheldon standards anyway).”

While some have struggled to actually find solid grounding for these theories, others have unearthed a completely different fact – that Penny wasn’t originally in mind for the main series.

“Amanda Walsh,” one user replied to who was originally cast in TBBT. “They filmed a pilot episode with her as ‘Katie.’ When the show was picked up, a few things were changed, including recasting the lead female role.”

Another fan debunked the argument, explaining: “Mandy and Penny have completely different personalities. Mandy grew up in a large city, is educated, career-oriented… this is why she was still single at 30. If we are fishing for similarity, possibly once Penny gave up acting and focused on doing well at her job?”