While Young Sheldon season 6 clearly wants to make George Sr.’s death tragic, The Big Bang Theory spinoff can’t keep making him more and more decent, or the moment will be too tragic to suit the tone of a family sitcom. Thanks to the canon of The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon has always needed to kill off Sheldon’s father, George Sr., sooner or later. The Big Bang Theory said that George Sr. was dead by the time Sheldon was in his teens, meaning Young Sheldon season 6 must at least set up the moment (if not also go through with the death) by its finale.
Already, Young Sheldon season 6 teased George Sr.’s death when Missy demanded to know why her parents were so suddenly affectionate, asking whether one of them was sick in an unfortunately prescient line. However, the show also keeps making George Sr. increasingly likable. The move away from endearingly grumpy to true selflessness makes George Sr. more of a good-natured family man than ever, and it is going to make his death even harder to take.
How Young Sheldon Changed The Big Bang Theory’s George Sr.
Since the series began, Young Sheldon has taken liberties with its characters. The Big Bang Theory’s version of Meemaw has been much more in line with her stern daughter Mary Cooper than the free-spirited, feckless Meemaw of Young Sheldon. Meanwhile, George Sr. is a grumpy, irascible, but ultimately kind and caring everyman rather than the neglectful alcoholic mentioned in the earlier series. The reason for these changes is twofold. For one thing, Young Sheldon would be a very dark series if The Big Bang Theory’s cheating, drunken, layabout version of George Sr. was one of its main characters. For another, Sheldon’s view of his father seems to have changed over the years.
An older Sheldon narrates Young Sheldon, and since he is voiced by Jim Parsons, it is fair to guess this is The Big Bang Theory iteration of the character. He has a much kinder view of his father than The Big Bang Theory ever did, possibly because he is recounting his childhood for the first time. Sheldon’s future tragic loss of his father, which viewers can gather was likely a sudden event (since George Sr. hasn’t displayed any ill health so far), could have led him to posthumously characterize his father as an ignorant brute as a defense mechanism to help cope with this formative loss.
Young Sheldon Season 6 Can’t Keep Leaning Into George Sr.’s Goodness
While it is sweet to see Young Sheldon prove that George Sr. was a better man than The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon gave him credit for, this could make his death too tragic. In Young Sheldon season 6, episode 6, "An Ugly Car, an Affair and Some Kickass Football," George Sr. not only houses Coach Wilkins (who replaced George Sr when he was fired), but he also refuses to take back his old job unless he can share it with the despondent Wilkins. Like Young Sheldon’s Mary growing happier and more confident since leaving the church, season 6’s George Sr. has gone from being an average, well-meaning father to a paragon of decency in a plot that can only end badly.
George Sr. going above and beyond for a man who didn’t help him when he lost his job is one thing, but insisting on only returning to the job if he can also uplift his replacement is arguably kinder than anything Sheldon himself did in Young Sheldon or The Big Bang Theory. George Sr.’s role in ”An Ugly Car, an Affair and Some Kickass Football” is outright heroic, and this will make his inevitable death all more crushing when it happens. Young Sheldon season 6 risks making a sad moment too effective for The Big Bang Theory spinoff thanks to the saintly characterization of Sheldon’s doomed father.