The cast and creatives of CBS' hit comedy series 'Young Sheldon' joined The Hollywood Reporter's Tyler Coates for a conversation about the seventh and final season at a live event hosted by the San Vicente Bungalows in Los Angeles. Stars Zoe Perry, Lance Barber and Annie Potts appeared with executive producers and co-creators Chuck Lorre and Steve Molaro and executive producer Steve Holland.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00I feel like we knew from the pilot. We all met and we were like outside in a
00:06courtyard and the kids upon meeting just you know launched and they were running
00:13in circles and we I think we all kind of just the adults probably just looked
00:19around we're like okay well you know it seems like an instant family.
00:30Thank you all for joining us. Thank you all for joining us and congratulations
00:35on this final season and what a run seven seasons. You know I naturally we're
00:40gonna talk about these last two episodes but I wanted to kind of take it back
00:44from the beginning and talk to to Chuck and Steve and Steve about you know
00:48developing this project and you know obviously you're taking a show that's a
00:53spin-off of a previous show. What were things that you really wanted to make
00:59sure Young Sheldon stood out as its own entity beyond just the Big Bang Theory
01:04and how did you manage to do that across these seven seasons? Well we knew we were
01:09starting with an exceptional child but a big part of the work was how he impacts
01:15on his family and and so it very quickly became an ensemble a family show about
01:23how this little boy changes the family and the family impacts on him so it got
01:30a lot richer and warmer as a result of not making it about so much Sheldon as
01:35about his entire environment including all the people in it and and this
01:41extraordinary group of adults. Steve and Steve you know I I hope I got those
01:49right Steve and Steve right I'm curious like building an ensemble around a
01:53family like this like what are you know what are the exciting parts about it and
01:57also the challenges especially you know when your star is is one of the kids how
02:02do you build these adults? Well the kids were young so they had limits on their
02:06hours but we can work these guys forever so you know that let us really build out
02:10some other stories. Yeah well I remember how electric the night was when we were
02:16trying to figure out who could possibly play Sheldon's mom and we realized that
02:21we had the actual daughter of the first Sheldon's mom and my email was blowing
02:29up but I didn't know what it was it was because she was like could you imagine
02:32if Zoe Perry would do it is she the right age and they were like this could
02:35be amazing this is like in the stars this is cosmic and clearly it was so
02:39that was I remember that was a big night for us. I was the lucky one there. Zoe you
02:45know I would love to hear you talk about taking on this complex role this
02:49mother who is kind of running a family you know is parenting a gifted child
02:55there's so much happening with her all the time did you experience that like
03:00kind of going into like playing a mother role someone who's like kind of spread
03:03thin and recognizing like as the actress like which parts are more important to
03:08her how to prioritize those elements of her character? Well I mean everything
03:14always went back to the scripts. I felt like I was so taken care of in in what
03:21my motivation was and what the challenges were in any particular
03:27interaction be it with the kids or husband or mom and and I feel like you
03:37know that friction between Mary and Sheldon of these sort of opposing forces
03:44but then who are also like drawn together you know the the differing
03:48ideologies but the deep-rooted love and and respect for each other was just
03:55always so you know rich and I feel like elements of that played into all of our
04:01relationships because that's life and I feel like that's also I mean what was so
04:09well written always was I think and what people always related to you know when I
04:16would hear from viewers was just how personal it felt to them but that
04:23message was universal because I would I would hear it abroad I would hear it
04:28everywhere I'd hear it from different cultures so clearly you know the just
04:33family dynamic is what really I think spoke to everybody. Lance playing a dad
04:39in this in this unit did you kind of feel the same way that it was kind of
04:43built on set this family? Not at all.
04:49It was in the most cliched ways it was intrinsic you know it's hard to be
05:00spend that much time with people and with little people those young people
05:04make it happen make it so I mean you can't there's a natural dynamic and you
05:10know some of us are parents already and it just fell into a natural thing that I
05:17think was certainly carried over onto the screen it was just there it was
05:20clear and obvious just by the time spent together and with again at the risk of
05:27being cliche it was everybody liked each other so the time together spent
05:33especially when we started was pretty magical. Annie you know you're playing
05:38me ma the matriarch of this family in a way kind of someone who's revered that
05:43level within a family is that were there surprising responsibilities playing
05:47this character on screen for you? Well I felt like I mean really in in life we
05:52had more responsibilities on the set because I mean they're they were little
05:57kids and only 15 when we finished so you know we had to be delicate around them
06:07and you know sometimes they were not real well behaved. I'd be like this
06:13little dick I'm gonna kill him it's like he's working like a grown-up okay
06:19back off but you know we had to love them and we had to you know feel that you
06:26know we were their little village and we needed to protect them no matter what so
06:33I feel the responsibilities the human responsibilities in a human situation
06:39were more were harder. The acting I mean I was just playing my mother no problem.
06:50You know I want to get to obviously the end of this series and and what happens
06:56with George and the family and you know I kind of want to toss it to the group
07:00and and really understand you know how you know when you knew that this was
07:05going to happen in the show how like what those early conversations were of
07:10tackling such heavy material in you know a light-hearted network sitcom not that
07:18that's not been you know that's it's a well-worn territory where a genre where
07:22that kind of storylines can be told but I'm curious like right now like what
07:27were those challenges? I mean I think we knew like we knew this event was coming
07:31I think Lance knew probably from beginning we knew from Big Bang Theory
07:34that his dad died and we knew that it was an important part of Sheldon and
07:37adult Sheldon's life and even you know Mary and Meemaw how it affected them
07:41when they became who they became on Big Bang so we didn't want to shy away from
07:44doing it but it became hard as we got to it because we had spent seven years with
07:48this with this character and with this actor and getting to you know getting to
07:52those moments where we were writing his farewells was really emotional just even
07:56in the writers room even talking about it there were tears and tissues being
08:00tossed around so. I love that that you know as when we brought it to a close
08:06that we saw for seven years how this family loved this little boy and it was
08:15hard he was a challenge and and and he didn't appreciate it until he was a
08:23father himself he didn't you know and that was the most things to be most
08:27proud of us about how we landed the plane was Jim Parsons playing Sheldon as
08:34an adult learns rather late that his family didn't get him at all and loved
08:41him unconditionally which what a wonderful way to say goodbye on this
08:45series. I think Lance can speak to how from the beginning we would often hear
08:50well based on what we knew from Big Bang Theory why why isn't George as terrible
08:55as we thought and and I know you got that question a lot and it's sort of the
08:59beginnings of us finding our way to the thought of Sheldon's much older now and
09:06has kids of his own that he doesn't understand and is starting to look at
09:09his parents in a in a new light and and telling these stories from his past to
09:15to honor them. I had to figure out a way initially certainly to justify what we
09:18already knew right and and Chuck had such good advice right away of we have
09:24to like this guy and we didn't like this guy I don't think so much on the
09:28Big Bang Theory other than for a laugh you know. Well Sheldon turned out to be
09:32an unreliable narrator. He was an unreliable narrator as I think we all are
09:36regarding our parents that's right and that's the angle I took when I started
09:41was that you know we all see our parents as adults at some point hopefully we see
09:46them as humans we're in a way that we never did before and at the narrator of
09:51the show that's that's what this was and so that was my guiding light for
09:56any of the George stuff. And Lance is just so likable it's hard to cast him because we
10:04thought he was gonna be a jerk and then he turns out to be wonderful. Well you
10:08know Lance for you especially you know obviously for everyone this closing
10:12chapter must have been very emotional but you know you've played this
10:15character you've been inside his head for seven years what is it like to kind
10:19of come to that end for him for you? I'll share a quick anecdote that I
10:22shared before but I went to I was in the casket for the day that we shot I was
10:27asked if I wanted to be I think they could have done a dummy in there right
10:31with a face cast or something and I said of course I want to be there because
10:36I've got plans I'm gonna ruin a lot of takes I've got a fart machine I'm gonna
10:40carry in the casket with me I've got a mustache and funny teeth I'm gonna I'm
10:45really gonna crack people up and when they shot all day I was there and I
10:50finally had a short time in the casket to shoot the overs and these actors they
10:56walked up in succession to talk to George and had their moments with him
10:59and all of those were out the wind I didn't do any of my funny bits I laid
11:04there and pulled tears in my ears the entire time it hit me pretty hard in a
11:10way I didn't anticipate actually and that was on top of being kind of proud
11:16and grateful for having a character actors kind of dream of having a
11:24memorable television character I've heard it compared to the end of mash or
11:32you know things like this I mean it hit people and I will have a legacy of that
11:36as a character actor who got this job and we'll have that be part of my
11:43history and I'm little more than extremely grateful for that it was very
11:52daunting about like two months till the end seeing everything approach knowing
11:58what was coming knowing you wouldn't be there and sort of jealous I was scared
12:13to do all the rest there was even one moment when we were shooting all of
12:20these wonderful female characters we had because our ensemble yeah I mean you
12:25guys created a world and it was incredible we had so many wonderful
12:29people Melissa Peterman Reba McIntyre Rachel Bay Jones different people were
12:36coming over with casseroles and the day had turned into a salon like you were
12:40hosting it they had pulled a couch out and everyone's like laughing and at one
12:44point I walk by and Reagan is like you're still here like I'm working but
12:52but it was man it was it was a challenge but but looking back on it too it was
13:01like such a a remarkable experience to have like walked through that don't you
13:09think Annie I mean Annie and I would kind of just be
13:15wish it had been my funeral so I could just lay there and hear all the lovely
13:22things that people thought about me cry over me and everything I started to
13:27really dislike Lance because he'd stolen my thunder I thought I was the oldest
13:32character I should have died can we take a minute to talk about your two eulogies
13:39and how just astoundingly amazing they were just some of them I can't believe
13:45how incredible those moments were from from YouTube I think I mean we were
13:49really proud of the script we wrote but to watch you guys bring it to life and
13:52the the funeral scene you watched we shot over two and a half or three days
13:55we were in that church shooting those scenes and you guys stayed in that
13:58emotional place the whole time like when we were on your back and we're in wide
14:02shots like I'm just remember watching you guys and being actually exhausted by
14:06just being so emotional and in tears and you had to be up there and do it like
14:10over and over again and for you know for two and a half days you guys stayed in
14:13that space and gave those incredible performances again and again and it was
14:17really something incredible to watch and just the way Lance laid there it was
14:25surreal to be grieving in character and then grieving the end of our show I mean
14:31these were it was a lot of grieving it was it was a lot of yeah it was a lot of
14:37grief I mean it was it was real yeah and I remember there was a scene when you
14:44were going up to the casket to give your farewell and I think on your last
14:47performance you really broke down and it was really affecting and we were
14:51sitting back by the monitors and Reagan was sitting next to us and she's sobbing
14:54watching you do it and you finish and she's like actually can I go again I
14:58think I'm sobbing the right amount now can I go one more time
15:02the moment of that was you Steve asking if there was one because it was it was
15:08written maybe a little bit more somber right and then it was like one you know
15:12could we have one where maybe she she breaks down a bit and so I went up
15:17again and yeah he as he said had just been pummeled by you know family
15:26speeches and and last words and so he started tearing which made it all the
15:33easier for me to break down yeah well when the corpse is crying you know
15:42you're in trouble spin-off
15:48sad ghost there's you know there's something Steve in the middle here you
15:55brought up about you know kind of being really proud of the script that you
15:58wrote and then saying what they did with it really took it above and beyond and
16:01I'm I'm very curious about the relationship between television writers
16:06and their ensemble because obviously when you make it you write a movie you
16:11know people sit in there alone at home make a movie or write a movie script you
16:16shoot it I feel like with TV you have this incredible opportunity to work with
16:21great actors and understand what they can bring to their characters and so I'm
16:25very curious if there's anything that you notice almost immediately with these
16:29three about what they were bringing and that influenced how you were writing the
16:35character at all I mean I think it was a lesson we actually took from Chuck from
16:39way back when which is you know you have an idea of what the show is but you
16:42have to be open to let the show grow and take you in surprising directions you
16:47can't just force it into this idea that you initially had and a lot of that's
16:50watching these actors and what they bring to the role like you know Lance
16:54being so lovely and such a wonderful person changed who George was and you
16:58know and Annie obviously just being Annie changed who me ma wasn't suddenly
17:02me ma's not just this grandmother but she's got this active love life and
17:04she's running a gambling casino and she's a force of nature and you know I'm
17:08not saying Annie's running a gambling casino but after this if you want the
17:11code so no absolutely I think we always try to keep ourselves sort of alive to
17:17what these actors were doing and bringing to the role and started shaping
17:20the characters to that and from the actors I would love to hear that on your
17:24side of the perspective you know did you feel a freedom to play around with you
17:30know who these characters were wasn't really by the page and kind of sticklers
17:34to it there was a lot to honor on the page it was very clear as you said
17:38before what was there was so ready to work with and clear that they knew us it
17:43was a neat experience for me to have worked on something for so long and knew
17:46that the writers knew me I never had and so to have the opportunity to
17:51understand and realize oh they're writing to me they know me they're
17:54writing a thing that I do and now they're using that you know to recognize
17:58that that would happen in a couple of different ways was so cool so flattering
18:04and such a neat experience to such as something and he mentioned I'm very
18:08curious if there's anything you learned from your younger co-stars as actors at
18:15this point in your career it cannot be spoken of you can pass my favorite
18:26little story about working with him in in the beginning I was we were doing a
18:30dinner scene which they would go on forever to keep I mean you know just go
18:35out to a restaurant with children is one thing but to have an eight-hour day with
18:38children at the table anyway so Reagan was next to me and just because she got
18:45bored and she had a lot of energy somewhere during the thing she found my
18:49sleeve and put her little fingers up my shirt and she started to examine the
18:55little fleshy part and she really worked it I mean everything she could
19:03out of that and I thought this child is so free you know it's just I thought I
19:09don't know if I would feel as comfortable with say a grown-up actor
19:12just to feel their arm up on camera but I mentioned it to another actor and he
19:19said why didn't you tell her to stop and I said are you kidding that stuff was
19:23gold go on honey silly Lance how about you did you take anything away from well
19:33they were always I mean they were always so present so they're always so present
19:42yeah yeah during the scene and during cut so it definitely made you stay in it
19:49with them but again I think that really fed into the family dynamic you know I
19:56mean we were playing with kids and then on our toes for sure yeah yeah I needed
20:02some prep time they would say action and they would just go out of us screaming
20:10out of conversation they had an ability it really would be yes screaming
20:14screaming action and and we were like we need three seconds I need three
20:23seconds and five breaths before I go it was never understood no that we that our
20:30brains didn't function so did you try to impart that wisdom onto them impossible
20:37yeah possible and wasn't necessary they didn't need it clearly of course no
20:41process well then Ian started to learn Russian and he got very good at it very
20:50quickly and he knew a lot of songs in Russian all kinds of things and
20:54especially at the dinner table he liked to sing them now I'm no fan of Putin so
21:03I really didn't enjoy the Russian also it was in in in advanced hours with it
21:12and he was and then it'd be like oh and pass the grits so I said you've got to
21:21stop that you got to stop that with the Russian I said it's scrambling my brain
21:26I'm old and I can't take it and then he turned very red and he's crestfallen I
21:34was like oh I don't need this okay you've driven me crazy with the Russian
21:39I could hardly remember my lines don't don't play that game anyway so there
21:45were challenges to that and then he learned Hungarian anyway fun he was just fun
21:57kind of one last question for the entire group we can just kind of go down the line starting
22:05with Lance but you know you started this show seven years ago seven seasons ago
22:10obviously it's a prequel to an extremely popular show so I'm sure the stakes were
22:16very high I bet there were part of you that probably like this is gonna be great but I'm
22:21sure there's also part of you like this could be scary and terrible who knows who knows how
22:25people are gonna respond to this I'm very curious when did it first dawn on you that
22:30this show was the gem that it was Lance do you remember I just remember people telling me yeah
22:36I remember saying that you were from the business of like you just hit the jackpot man get ready
22:43keep saying get ready and then when the show came out that continued to come from people in the
22:49business in the know and then from fans right away it was obvious and of course there was we
22:56didn't know of course we didn't know we'd hoped and all the stuff was there but we didn't know
23:00but it was pretty apparent pretty quickly in my recollection oh yeah I mean I feel like we knew
23:07from the pilot I mean it was such an exciting thing to be a part of and knowing yeah the world
23:18that we were you know attached to the incredible fan base of that and just what a privilege that
23:24was to be connected to it and then when we started the pilot I mean I I truly felt such a you know
23:34like connection to this guy just when we auditioned together and then from the moment God I was I was
23:45thinking about this when we were doing some like behind-the-scenes footage and I ugly cried like
23:51out of nowhere because they said do you remember you know meeting the kids for the first time and
23:56I did and the memory was so vivid that it just took me aback but we all met and it we were like
24:05outside in a courtyard and the kids upon meeting just you know launched and they were running in
24:14circles and Montana who was always so calm was kind of letting them crawl on him you know all
24:21over and and we I think we all kind of just the adults probably just looked around we were like
24:28okay well you know it seems like an instant family and yeah I think it just from the get it was like
24:38wow how lucky yeah any how about you do you remember do you remember a moment where you're
24:43like this is great I yes I do I thought I'm working with ferrets they're just three little
24:55ferrets I love kids I have three of my own I love them so I knew when I saw the pilot of it and I
25:07wasn't even in that they sent it to me and said you want to be part of this and was like yes I
25:13do but yeah it was a delight the whole time how about you guys as far as when I don't know when
25:23we knew but I'm comfortable to say that Chuck and I were terrified from the beginning all through
25:30the whole pilot maybe even after we saw the pilot just is this is this going to be okay what are we
25:36and we had never done single camera show before so it was a it was a it was a wild time the only
25:44word that comes to mind is fear just yeah just absolutely trusting that you know we were making
25:52good choices but no we didn't know we were we were learning as we went you know I have to just as
26:00you're talking about the ferrets I just remember early on you know you walk on and walk on set and
26:06Reagan would come running and climb all over your mr. Chuck mr. Chuck mr. Chuck you know this last
26:14year walk on the set and Reagan ago it was it was challenging but it was wonderful to watch
26:33these kids grow up you know and we and I and I'm really proud we did create a safe space it doesn't
26:39necessarily have to be a safe space it's not a natural space for little kids it's a work
26:45environment a lot of stress and pressure and enormous amounts of money are being wagered as
26:51to either this is gonna work or not and I like to believe that that these these kids you know
26:57we're protected the entire time well thank you all again for joining us tonight and congratulations
27:06on this show and seven incredible seasons thank you so much