Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik Join 'Young Sheldon' Finale, Reprising 'Big Bang Theory' Roles

Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik are stepping back into The Big Bang Theory universe. Exactly four years after the flagship show aired its series finale, Parsons and Bialik are set to reprise their roles as Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler in the Young Sheldon series finale, scheduled to air on CBS and streaming on Paramount+ on Thursday, May 16. (Click here for a free trial of Paramount+.)

Details of the hour-long series finale, including plot and the pair's exact involvement in the episode, are being kept under wraps. While the series finale will mark the pair's first onscreen appearances on the show, it will not mark their first involvement with the spinoff. Parsons is currently an executive producer and the narrator of Young Sheldon. Bialik, meanwhile, has provided voiceovers in two episodes of the series.

A prequel to The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon is set from 1989 into the mid-1990s, the series centers on a young Sheldon (Iain Armitage), "a once-in-a-generation mind capable of advanced mathematics and science," as he struggles to fit in with his family and classmates in East Texas. The single-camera, half-hour comedy, which takes viewers through Sheldon's childhood, also stars Zoe Perry, Lance Barber, Montana Jordan, and Annie Potts. The series premiered in 2017, two years before The Big Bang Theory concluded. That series aired for 12 seasons from 2007 until 2019 and centered on five characters living in Pasadena, California: roommates Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon Cooper (Parsons), both physicists at Caltech; waitress and aspiring actress Penny (Kaley Cuoco); and aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) and astrophysicist Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar).

A consistent ratings winner that remains TV's No. 1 comedy, Young Sheldon is currently in its seventh and final season, consisting of 14 episodes. The Season 7 premiere, which aired on Feb. 15, averaged over 11.2 million viewers. CBS announced in November that the series would conclude with Season 7, President of CBS Entertainment Amy Reisenbach saying at the time, "as a prequel to one of the biggest comedies, Young Sheldon proved lightning can strike twice. "It set itself apart with a remarkable cast that felt like a family from the first moment we saw them on screen and brought characters to life with unique, heartfelt stories that drew audiences in from the start."

While Young Sheldon is reaching its conclusion, The Big Bang Theory universe is set to expand even further. Earlier this month, CBS officially ordered a Young Sheldon spinoff series focused on Montana Jordan and Emily Osment's characters Georgie and Mandy "as they raise their young family in Texas while navigating the challenges of adulthood, parenting, and marriage."

Young Sheldon is executive produced by Chuck Lorre, Steven Molaro, Steve Holland, Nick Bakay, Jim Parsons, and Todd Spiewak. New episodes air Thursdays on CBS at 8 p.m. ET and are available to stream on Paramount+, which you can subscribe to here.