As its planned Big Bang Theory spinoff begins to fall into place, it’s been revealed that CBS has already cast a young actor to play the 12-year-old Sheldon Cooper.
That’s according to Jim Parsons himself, who confirmed as much to Entertainment Tonight at last night’s 2017 Screen Actors Guild Awards. Parsons stopped short of revealing the identity of said youngster, but we understand he’ll be headlining a series that is “very different” to The Big Bang Theory. Entitled Sheldon, much of the spinoff will chronicle his unusual upbringing in Galveston, Texas and, ultimately, how he became the snarky, razor-sharp theoretical physicist fans know and love.
Parsons, who has played Cooper for a whopping ten years, then went on to tell ET that although CBS brass and the show’s producer Steve Molaro spent time sifting through scores of auditions, the final choice is someone he believes to be “really special.” When asked whether the network has found its young Sheldon, Parsons replied as so:
“We have. They’re supposed to release it but I’m not going to say. He’s wonderful. So many kids sent in [tapes] and it was really overwhelming. But this one little guy was really special.”
Though the immediate future of The Big Bang Theory is still up in the air, Jim Parsons is eager to set the wheels in motion, and even holds an executive producer credit on Sheldon. In a recent interview, the actor stressed that the time is right for a spinoff series to CBS’ flagship sitcom.
“[The writers] have done, from the beginning, such a good job of building such a history and a layered nature to all these characters. It just seems like a really wasted opportunity if you don’t decide to explore the origin story with that. I mean, they’ve layered so many things in there over the past decade that is already there to be drawn from.”
CBS is expected to fire up production on Sheldon sometime this year ahead of an expected premiere in early 2018. We’ll notify you if and when the network confirms the identity of the show’s leading star.
