Young Sheldon presented a character named Paige Swanson who was another child prodigy that Sheldon Cooper knew when he was younger, but disappeared in later years. Paige was someone who considered Sheldon to be a friend, but the young Sheldon looked at her more like a rival. However, that relationship changed somewhat over the years when Sheldon learned a little more about her home life and difficulties she had there, which appeared to lead her life in a different direction than that of the young genius the show was named after. However, her last appearance was in the sixth season when she went with Missy after she ran away from home.
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The question of what happened to Paige after her last appearance on Young Sheldon was picked up in a Reddit thread. She was never mentioned in The Big Bang Theory and never returned after Missy was banned from spending time with her again after the runaway incident. Redditors came up with their own ideas.
What Happened to Paige Swanson After Young Sheldon?
The OP mentioned that Paige Swanson was “smarter than Sheldon” but she was never mentioned by Sheldon in the future, even though he considered her to be a rival. They then asked what happened to her. This led to many theories, some of which were depressing, and others that seemed a little more optimistic. One of the best comments was from a Redditor who wrote, “In my head she drops out of everything and burns out for a while, but then rebounds & goes back to school to become a therapist and mentor for girls like her.”
That makes a lot of sense. Just like Sheldon Cooper, Paige was able to get a chance at an early high education, but she threw it away on the show. Paige struggled thanks to her parents’ divorce, which negatively affected her mentality, as she began to rebel and show signs of depression. She experimented with shoplifting and stopped doing her school work, letting her grades fall. She dropped out of college and was starting to party more. She attempted to hook up with college guys, but this was a bad idea since she was so young, and it showed she was headed down a dangerous path.
It was no wonder that Missy’s parents banned her from hanging out with Paige anymore, even though Missy chose to run away and called Paige later. However, seeing Paige getting back on her feet and making something of her life is a happy ending that she deserved. The ideas that she was a child with high IQ ADHD and didn’t understand how to deal with her broken family makes her the perfect person to help others when she finally figured things out for herself.
Sadly, there are also some sad theories that she never recovered. Another Redditor wrote, “her life got so messy after her parents’ divorce, that she fell off academically, made new friends who were basically bad influence on her, and she works at some medium paying job to get enough money to live, party with friends and get high/drunk. She basically fell into depression and threw away her academic life and never recovered.” This was the saddest theory, as others agreed that she ended up doing no better than working at a bowling alley, while others said that was “too dreary” and she needed to make a comeback as an adult.
One of the best theories came from a scene from The Big Bang Theory. A Redditor brought up an episode of TBBT where Missy was going to an unnamed friend’s wedding. “My theory is that in an episode of TBBT when Missy is going to a friend’s wedding that it’s Paige getting married at Disney. She’s happy and successful. But if she wasn’t a scientist Sheldon wouldn’t care about what she does just that he’s the better physicist.” This seemed to be the happily ever after ending that Paige deserved after Young Sheldon.
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Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
