Young Sheldon EP Reveals Big Bang Alum’s New Role in Season 5 Finale — Plus, Watch a Sneak Peek
Young Sheldon‘s future father-in-law will pop in for a very peculiar guest spot during Thursday’s Season 5 finale (CBS, 8/7c).
As previously reported, Penn and Teller will guest-star on the Big Bang Theory spinoff. However, Teller won’t reprise his role as Amy Farrah Fowler’s dad Larry. Instead, he’ll play one half of dermatological duo Acne and Pus. Allow us to explain…
In the episode, titled “A Clogged Pore, a Little Spanish and the Future,” 12-year-old Sheldon (played by Iain Armitage) struggles to cope with the first signs of puberty. Upon getting his first pimple, Penn and Teller appear as Acne Vulgaris and his silent sidekick (as seen in TVLine’s exclusive sneak peek above).
“We thought it was a fun idea to personify the pimple, so we were thinking about who would be right for Acne Vulgaris,” series co-creator Steve Molaro tells TVLine. “When we landed on Penn, he seemed so perfect, and it’s hard not to think of Teller when you think of Penn. Once Penn agreed to do it, we circled around to say, ‘How would you guys feel about doing it together, as Acne and Pus?’ They were very into it, and just a delight to work with from beginning to end.”
And if Teller had any hesitation about taking on a new role in the Big Bang universe, he certainly didn’t voice it to Molaro. “He knew what it was, and I think he knows this is set in the past,” the EP says with a laugh. “It’s a [different set of] characters here, and you know it’s Penn and Teller.”
As the boy genius stares down the barrel of adolescence, the rest of the Cooper family is dealing with a myriad of crises. Mary and George Sr. are on the hunt for new jobs, while Meemaw takes soon-to-be teen dad Georgie on a business trip across the border.
“We were attracted to the idea that something as small and simple as a pimple could cause such psychological torment for him,” Molaro says. “It’s interesting to see the onset of puberty, and to touch on Sheldon’s feelings about all the problems that the adults are having around him. Now that he’s becoming an adult, is this what life has in store?”
Watch Teller’s return to the Big Bang universe above, then hit the comments with your reactions to Young Sheldon‘s latest Easter egg.
Ha… and ewww!
I love how heartfelt this show is.
I love this show and love what the producers are doing to it!
Couldn’t think of a better duo than Penn and Teller to play these characters.
I love this show. Real life done with comedy.
This might be a great time to work on Missy’s character a bit with the rest of the family is in such termoil. She is such a cute smatepants.
Trying to figure out how Missy goes from strong/insightful/brave/supportive daughter to the promiscuous imbecile of bad life choices we see on BBT?
Show’s producers don’t seem to be terribly concerned about continuity. For example, Meemaw on TBBT is plump and grumpy, nothing like the trim and fun Annie Potts version. Annie is a lot better-looking as well. Another example is Amy Farrah Fowler’s mother, who was played by one actress early on and then by Kathy Bates in later years.
Do any of the Y.S. trivia buffs out there remember how old Sheldon was when his father died? In the TBBT episode where Sheldon is about to get married and Sheldon goes to visit George Jr. to try to get him to come to the wedding, George and Sheldon talk about what a mess the family was when the father died and I seem to recall George saying that Sheldon was away in Germany for his university studies.