Big Bang Theory Had Some Secret Clues About Paige's Dark Young Sheldon Story

Paige Swanson is a recurring character on the popular CBS sitcom Young Sheldon. She was first introduced in season two as another child prodigy, a rival to Sheldon and friend to his twin sister, Missy. More importantly, her character is used by the show's creators as a kind of mirror, reflecting Sheldon's alternate fate if some aspects of his life had been different.

The girl's parents got divorced in the third season, and this affected Paige deeply, as she then fell into a rebellious stage with a snarky attitude, a darker look, shoplifting, and falling grades.

Though she enrolled in the University of Austin, the girl genius never felt happy there.

Paige found herself lost and lonely, lacking friends, which eventually led to depression. The last time viewers saw her was at a party where she was drunk and trying to get alone with a college boy. Sadly, The Big Bang Theory hints that Paige's arc will only get darker from there.

In the original series, the adult Sheldon's revelations about his childhood to the Pasadena gang always serve as a source of information about the future of Young Sheldon's characters.

While he usually chose lighthearted, funny memories, such as his feud with Missy or his father's embarrassing behavior, Sheldon rarely mentioned something truly personal and tragic.

Perhaps only in season 10, Sheldon told Penny about how he once walked in on his father having sex with someone other than his mother, which hurt him a lot and triggered his habit of knocking three times.

But when it comes to Paige, The Big Bang Theory never mentions — not even once — and this radio silence is exactly what makes you worry about the girl's future. Fans remember that something similar happened with Tam Nguyen, Sheldon's first best friend. After Tam broke his promise to go to Caltech with Sheldon, they had a falling out, and Sheldon, clearly hurt by this betrayal, never mentioned Tam to his friends in Pasadena.

Examples like this are a bad sign for Paige, as it seems odd that Sheldon never talked about the only other child prodigy he knew. Most likely, something really nasty happened between these characters later, and their relationship has hurt Sheldon so much that he decided to expel all memories of the girl and never mention her again.