Young Sheldon's New Spinoff Sets the Stage for George's Death

Summary

• George's death must be dealt with owing to the upcoming Georgie and Mandy spinoff.
• It's been a highly anticipated storyline ever since Young Sheldon was greenlighted.
• And a tricky one for the writers.

As soon as the Georgie and Mandy spinoff was announced, fans of Young Sheldon and TBBT pretty much knew that George's death was going to have to be addressed in season 7 of the prequel.

What Do We Know About the Georgie and Mandy Spinoff?

Very little. No firm details have been released so far, but it's expected to be a multi-camera sitcom set just after the end of Young Sheldon.

But the simple fact that has been given the go-ahead makes it near-impossible for Young Sheldon not to tackle the storyline that many fans had begun to fear might never hit their screens.

Nobody wants him to die, but we know it's coming. The worse alternative was that we would never find out how.

There were genuine fears that Young Sheldon's showrunners would cop out and just end before George's death. Now, that no longer seems possible. Trying to start a new chapter in the franchise with the death of a much-loved character would be too risky.

So, it's down to Young Sheldon to finally shed light on this story.

Fans Have Been Desperate to Find Out What Happened to George

Plenty was said about George in The Big Bang Theory, with much of it painting a pretty grim picture of Sheldon's father. In truth, Sheldon's family was shown in a great light at all by the protagonist of TBBT. Even when a family member did visit him in Pasadena, they generally reinforced what Sheldon had said about them.

Young Sheldon wouldn't have worked if everybody but the main character was unlikeable. But few fans can claim to have expected to love George so much. From the moment we knew a prequel was on the cards, viewers were desperate to learn about George's story. After being introduced to him, this turned into a kind of sombre anticipation.

It was as if CBS didn't really know how to handle the story and just kept putting it off. But they can no longer do that.

How Will Young Sheldon Handle George's Death?

Sensitively. It's going to be a tricky tightrope to walk, killing off a main character in the final season of a comedy without bringing down the mood of the entire show will be a challenge. But Young Sheldon has already shown it's up to the task.

Sheldon has had to grapple with struggling to make friends, George and Mary have gone through marital struggles and separation, and Paige has gone off the rails. Through all of this, the show has shown a maturity in dealing with real-life problems while maintaining an authentic light-heartedness.

This should give us hope that George's death will be tackled head-on and with due respect for the character, the show, and the new spinoff. During The Big Bang Theory, it was indicated that the Coopers struggled to come to terms with George's death. It was also claimed by Georgie that it was he who took on the paternal role after his father passed away.

If this can be incorporated into Young Sheldon, it will go a long way to establishing Georgie as the new lead in the TBBT universe. It will also enable the production team to write George out of the show before the finale, giving them plenty of time to deal with the loss before wrapping up the story on a more positive note.