As Told to Us in 'The Big Bang Theory,' Will Sheldon's Dad Die in 'Young Sheldon'?

Human beings aren't supposed to know the future. In 1984, George Orwell said, "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever."

That's exactly how some fans seem to feel about the potential death of Sheldon's dad, George Sr. (Lance Barber), being played out in Young Sheldon as it was told by Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory. That death will be like a boot stomping on your face.

We were given very little background about George Sr. in The Big Bang Theory. Evidently, he and Sheldon had very little in common. His father was a high school football coach, and Sheldon was mostly brains with very little brawn. A rift grew between them after George Sr. cheated on Sheldon's mom, but we'll get to that in a moment. That's really all we were told about their relationship via The Big Bang Theory, except for when George Sr. died of weight-related issues.

Executive producer Chuck Lorre told reporters during the Television Critics Association in the summer 2021 press tour that they are "not going to play fast and loose [with history]." He went on to say, "...we don’t have to follow an exact timeline. A season doesn’t have to be a year. It could be a couple months. We have a lot of freedom with the backstory.”

In Young Sheldon, George Sr. is portrayed in a kinder light, as Chuck wanted to "show that there’s a great deal more to the man than we discussed."

Unfortunately, that kind light began to dim in Season 5 after George lost his job as football coach at Medford High School. To protect his fragile ego, he quit immediately instead of staying through the end of the school year while looking for work. To make matters worse, he scoffed at Mary's suggestion that he work next to her at the grocery. Instead, George opted for adding more financial strain to the family by sitting on his a** all day until his shift at Ballard started. We're finally arriving at The Big Bang Theory's George.

At the tail end of Season 4, via a voiceover by Jim Parsons, Sheldon acknowledged his father's death. We hear him say, “We often regret the things we don’t say. There’s a lot of things I wish I had said to my dad while he was around — that I appreciated him, that I loved him — which is why I am grateful for the times I did tell him how I felt."

The foreshadowing is definitely there. At the start of Season 5, Sheldon is still 11 and is starting at East Texas Tech. According to Big Bang, Sheldon finds his dad cheating at 13, gets his master's from CalTech at 14, and loses his father at 14 as well.

Since he's still at East Texas Tech at the end of Season 5, we likely have some time before his dad passes away. But since Chuck has said that each season doesn't have to be a year, it's difficult to know where we are age-wise, but we do know George's death is coming.

Young Sheldon airs on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.