‘Young Sheldon’: Iain Armitage Talks Working With Jim Parsons, Mayim Bialik on Series Finale (Exclusive)

As Young Sheldon comes to an end after seven seasons, Iain Armitage says it was “such an honor” to close the final chapter on Sheldon Cooper with Jim Parsons by his side. Ahead of the May 16 series finale of the CBS smash hit, the 15-year-old actor opened up to PopCulture.com about Parsons making his on-screen debut at the close of the Big Bang Theory spinoff, reprising his role as an older Sheldon.

Armitage told PopCulture that it was thrilling to get to work once again with Parsons, who is an executive producer and narrator for Young Sheldon after playing the beloved Big Bang Theory lead from 2007 to 2019, as well as Mayim Bialik, who also returns for the finale in her role as Amy Farrah Fowler. 

“They are so incredible. It was such an honor to get to see them again,” Armitage said. “With Mr. Jim, I love hanging out with him so much, whether it’s in California working together or in New York seeing a bunch of shows. I love him so, so much, and I have all the respect in the world for him.”

“And Miss Mayim is so talented, and so wonderful, and so funny, and so interesting,” he continued. “I love getting to work with her as well and getting to see them both on set. I felt like I should have been paying to get to sit there and watch them act.”

Taking on the role of younger Sheldon when he was just 8 years old, the now-teenage actor said it’s “pretty incredible and a massive honor” that people came to love his interpretation of the character as much as Parsons’, one he says he’s not sure he deserves watching back his predecessor’s performance on The Big Bang Theory.

“I’m sort of in awe that they trusted 8-year-old me to try and portray that because [Parsons] is so talented,” he said. Looking back on his first few episodes playing Sheldon recently, Armitage says it was “so wild” to see how far he’s come as an actor in seven seasons. 

“Of course, I have a lot of judgments and critiques for myself whenever I watch myself on screen … and, then I kind of look back and realize how far I’ve come and how long ago that was,” he reflected. “I really didn’t have a feel for Sheldon as a character [at first]. And, you know, it’s so interesting to me now –  I don’t know if there was ever really a point that that shifted, but just sort of over time, it’s gotten so much easier to slip into the character of Sheldon.”

He continued, “It’s gonna be exciting seeing what I do next, because, you know, it’ll be fun to do something completely different that isn’t related to Sheldon at all.”

The Young Sheldon series finale airs Thursday, May 16, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.