Young Sheldon fans finally get answer for Paige’s Season 7 absence

Young Sheldon fans were left furious after Paige didn’t return in Season 7, but now the creators have finally explained why.

Young Sheldon Season 7 was a series stacked with past character cameos, from Sheldon’s childhood best friend Tam to sparsely seen country legend Reba McEntire.

However, one character — Paige — failed to return for the show’s final episodes, leaving fans hugely disappointed… but the show’s creators have revealed the intentional reason behind her absence.

CBS

Speaking to TV Line, executive producer Steve Holland explained: “People ask about Paige all the time, and she was only in [nine] episodes of Young Sheldon. Big Bang was done, and there was no way to go, ‘Can we go back and retrofit [her] into Big Bang Theory?’

“When we got into this season, especially with it being a shortened season, we never thought that [Paige’s storyline] was an arc that needed more closing than it got. There was a parallel; she was a bit of a mirror image of Sheldon — a different way that Sheldon could have turned out — and I think we saw that play out.”

Played by Mckenna Grace, Holland also noted that her star status made it difficult to get her back into the Young Sheldon cast (she was last seen in Season 6 Episode 13).

“I know there are some dark theories about what happened to Paige and why Sheldon doesn’t mention her [on Big Bang],” Holland continued. “I don’t think she’s not mentioned because she went down a dark path and is dead in Big Bang Theory. For us, it was just an interesting way to explore another kid who had a similar thing to Sheldon and the different roads that they could take.

“[By Season 6] she is not a huge part of Sheldon’s life; she’s more of Missy’s friend in the show than she is Sheldon’s friend. That said, it would have been great to have Mckenna back because she’s incredible, always.”

Paige was last seen running away to Florida with Missy after stealing a truck, having taken a turn for the worse following her parents’ divorce. As noted by Holland, Paige wasn’t incorporated into TBBT — although another character called Paige did prompt suspicion — meaning it’s not exactly clear where her education journey ended up.

President Hagemayer coaxed Sheldon to try to get Paige to join East Texas Tech back in Season 4, but she made it clear she had offers from “better universities” such as Harvard by that point.

“It honestly would have been nice to see her one final time, but genuinely she just wasn’t needed I think,” one Redditor summed up. “Hell Even Billy & Brenda who are their next-door neighbors were barely in the episode lol. Tam wasn’t there either despite Sheldon seeing him like a day earlier. Heather M nor B weren’t there despite being Missy’s best friends and have been mentioned quite a few times during the run of the series.”

All 14 episodes of Young Sheldon Season 7 are now available to stream on Paramount Plus. 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.