A brand new Young Sheldon season 6 behind-the-scenes image spoils Paige's fate. Introduced as Sheldon's fellow child prodigy, Paige has had a complicated relationshiphistory with the boy genius. Aside from being as intelligent, she is also more social than Sheldon - or she was, until her parents split up and she started to rebel. In her latest Young Sheldon appearance on season 5, she was in bad mental shape. After struggling to find her place at the University of Texas as a college student, she drops out of school and runs away, but not before seeking Sheldon for some help.Paige pushed through with her Young Sheldon plan to run away from home, although luckily, she was eventually found. Despite this, her fate beyond that point remained unclear. She was dealing with a lot of personal issues, and it was not revealed if she was getting the help she needed to overcome them. While Young Sheldon is keeping specifics about her state under wraps, a new season 6 behind-the-scenes image from Iain Armitage offers an idea about how she has been since she was last on the show.
Why Paige Wasn’t On The Big Bang Theory
Unlike most of the Cooper family members, Paige never appeared on The Big Bang Theory. In fact, she was never even mentioned on the show, which was surprising considering the role she played in Sheldon's childhood. Aside from being academic rivals, the boy genius also once thought he was infatuated with her. The reason behind Paige's non-existence on the flagship series is simply because the character was created specifically for Young Sheldon. While Missy was barely on The Big Bang Theory because CBS didn't foresee how popular she would become on the prequel, Paige, on the other hand, wasn't part of Sheldon's story when it was first conceived in the mid-2000s. That's why The Big Bang Theory failed to incorporate her in any of the show's narratives.
In terms of story, however, CBS has yet to offer a reason why Sheldon never mentioned Paige on The Big Bang Theory, although there are a couple of possible explanations for this. For starters, he didn't want to share that there was someone who was arguably smarter than him back in Texas. Given Sheldon's pride and self-centeredness, intentionally keeping Paige's existence a secret fits with his personality. Secondly, perhaps she is headed for a tougher road, and Sheldon doesn't simply want to talk about what happened to her with his friends.
Armitage doesn't say when Paige's cameo will happen on The Big Bang Theory prequel. For context, Young Sheldon season 6's fall finale will feature the return of the show's true villain - Mary's church - so it's doubtful she will be involved in that outing. This means that whatever they were filming would have to be for an early 2023 episode.
Young Sheldon season 6 airs Thursdays on CBS
Source: Iain Armitage