Young Sheldon Producer Confirms Whether George Sr. Actually Cheated On Mary

After years of dominating the airwaves, "Young Sheldon" debuted its devastating series finale last week, wrapping up the beloved prequel series. With the show in the rearview mirror, its cast and creatives are looking back on how the project ties into its parent series, "The Big Bang Theory." In "TBBT," audiences received brief but important information about Sheldon Cooper's (Jim Parsons) childhood. One major revelation from the main series was why Sheldon decides to knock three times. In Season 10 Episode 5, titled "The Hot Tub Contamination," Sheldon explains that he knocks thrice because he once saw his father, George Sr. (Lance Barber), having sexual relations with another woman who wasn't his mother. 

However, producer Steve Holland has confirmed to TVLine that what Sheldon (Iain Armitage) saw in his youth was merely a misconception. In "Young Sheldon" Season 7, Episode 4, titled "Ants on a Log and a Cheating Winker," Sheldon knocks on his parent's door and enters, only to see his father having some alone time with Mary (Zoe Cooper). The mix-up occurs because the couple are roleplaying, with Mary specifically dressed up and wearing a wig.

"He did not know it was Mary. He still thinks he walked in [on his father cheating]," Holland definitively said. "I think that's a moment where Sheldon thought he saw something. He thought he saw his dad with another woman, and he didn't, and there's a sadness to that, that he's carried that all these years." 

"The Big Bang Theory" fans think that young and older Sheldon are two completely different characters, with this revelation about George Sr. further solidifying that. The story presented in the original series about his cheating is radically different than the events that were depicted in the prequel show. In "TBBT," older Sheldon explicitly states that he thought the house was empty and that he entered into the room after hearing noises. He also adds that he locks eyes with the individuals in the room, and quickly ran to his bedroom. After that, the character decided to knock three times to ensure that people had time to get their pants on. 

The event is definitely less intense in "Young Sheldon," as Armitage's character knocks once, enters, and then leaves at the sight of his parents engaging in sexual relations; it isn't confirmed if his parents saw or acknowledged him. Also, younger Sheldon doesn't run to his room, he just walks out of the house. 

For Holland, it was important that infidelity didn't cap off George and Mary's relationship. "[George cheating] felt like larger Big Bang canon because it's tied to his three knocks, which is a big deal, and as we got deeper into the show, it also just didn't feel like this was the kind of show where we wanted to deal with too much infidelity," he said. 

George Sr. cheating on Mary is just a misunderstanding, and serves as a retcon from the larger "Big Bang Theory" canon. The decision to not have George cheat might not feed well into the parent series, but it does explore how Sheldon often sticks to his own POV, further solidifying how he struggles to communicate emotionally. "Young Sheldon" did previously tease that George was considering starting a relationship with Brenda Sparks (Melissa Peterman) but that ultimately didn't happen. 

Steve Holland added that Brenda's inclusion in the series helped serve as a way to tie the information from "TBBT" into the prequel series. "We hinted at it a little bit [with the Brenda Sparks character], so we talked about a way to close that loophole. Maybe this was a thing [where] Sheldon isn't lying, but he's not in possession of all the facts," he said. 

From Lance Barber's view of things, it was a great decision to have George be faithful to Mary. "I'm glad that they did what they did in regards to making it not so on the nose of infidelity," he told TVLine in a different interview. While sparks did fly with Brenda, George decided to be faithful to Mary, which in turn led to a heart-wrenching series finale that still has fans weeping.