Young Sheldon producer defends disappointing finale send-offs

Young Sheldon ended its seven-season run with Mary and Missy Cooper receiving bittersweet send-offs, but the show’s executive producer has come out to defend the choice to end their stories that way.

Both Mary and Missy were left in a dark spot after George died, leaving many Young Sheldon fans disappointed, and Steve Holland stands by the decision to close their chapters without any real closure.

“We were trying to use these last episodes to start [Zoe Perry] on a road towards the Mary [we know] in Big Bang Theory, who we know is even more religious than Mary [in Young Sheldon],” Holland explained to TVLine. “This was the beginning of that path. To me, it doesn’t feel like a dark place to leave her. It feels real.

“She’s still grieving the death of George and she has turned to religion. She says ‘Jesus is helping me through it,’ and I don’t think that that’s a depressing place to leave her. We don’t leave her bouncing back from the death of [her husband], but that also just didn’t feel real to us.”

The EP continued, “We know from Big Bang that [Missy] goes off the rails a little bit in the wake of George’s death, so it’s hinting at that future for Missy but also trying not to leave her in such a dark place that it’s just depressing. She’s obviously angry, and she’s grieving, and that also felt real, but we didn’t want to leave her in a really grim place at the end of this show.”

The series finale did allow Missy to have one last sweet on camera interaction with her twin brother before he went off to Caltech, which served as the show’s last Big Bang Theory Easter egg.

As Sheldon looks around the Cooper house one more time before leaving, Missy asks Sheldon if he’ll remember her when he leaves to which he responds, “I have an eidetic memory. I have no choice,” which is Sheldon’s way of saying I love you.

Despite this sweet ending for the Cooper twins, Raegan Revord, who played Missy, expressed her heartache for where her fictional character would end up in The Big Bang Theory.

“It breaks my heart,” Revord said. “She just doesn’t have it easy. Her whole life, she was kind of ignored because of her [twin] brother, and the one person who paid her attention died. She’s left with a grieving mom who probably [isn’t] there for her the way that she should have been because they’re all dealing with [George’s death] in their own way. Mary very much leans into her religion… and in Big Bang, Missy’s a waitress, she’s got all these kids [and] she’s the least successful Cooper kid.”

The teen actress concluded that she hoped Missy would “find some peace and happiness” in her adult life, which could be showcased in some way in the upcoming Georgie and Mandy spin-off.

Make sure you check out our breakdown of Young Sheldon’s actual ending, as well as our recaps of Episode 13 and 14, details about Georgie and Mandy’s spinoff, and other binge-worthy TV shows to add to your list.