Young Sheldon Makes Major Retcon to Big Bang Theory Story
The tragic origin of Sheldon Cooper's triple knock was given a substantial change.
While Young Sheldon has mostly stuck to the road map of Sheldon Cooper's life laid out in The Big Bang Theory, the hit prequel just took a major swerve in its final season. In The Big Bang Theory, adult Sheldon tells a devastating story about his father that informed his reason for knocking on every door three times. In Thursday's new episode of Young Sheldon, that specific moment in Sheldon's life arrived, and the show took things in a different direction. WARNING: This article contains spoilers for the latest episode of Young Sheldon! Continue reading at your own risk...
In The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon reveals that he knocks three times because he walked in on his father sleeping with another woman when he was younger. That affair was teased earlier in Young Sheldon, but the series pulled a switcheroo on Thursday night, by showing that scene actually unfold. Sheldon walked in on his parents having sex, but they were engaging in a little bit of role play and his mom was wearing a blonde wig.
So Sheldon believed his dad had cheated on his mom, but Young Sheldon's new revelation confirmed that it was simply a mistake all along.
Young Sheldon Sticking to Certain Big Bang Stories
Young Sheldon may have changed the narrative when it comes to George's affair, but the story of the character's untimely death isn't going to be altered for the prequel.
"I don't want to say what you will or won't see, but things will get addressed," executive producer Steve Holland told TVLine. "We are not beholden to every joke that was ever made on The Big Bang Theory, but we do feel beholden to the larger canon and the larger events that shape Sheldon's life. We want to honor those."
Avoiding the topic altogether was never in the cards for Young Sheldon. Even though it is tonally very different from The Big Bang Theory, it is the very same timeline, and the passing of George Sr. is very much a part of that timeline.
"Absolutely not. That is a thing that happens in Sheldon's life. This is the same character [from Big Bang]. We are living in the same universe as Big Bang and that sort of world building is important. Big things that [Adult Sheldon said] happened in his life without a doubt happened."