Missing Ingredient in Young Sheldon Season 6: Why It Can't Be Fixed Now

When the creators of Young Sheldon conceived the spinoff during the final two seasons of The Big Bang Theory, they could hardly have predicted its future success. However, the prequel has since completely won over the hearts and minds of the majority of the franchise's fans, as well as people who’ve never even seen The Big Bang Theory.

The show’s sixth season will be airing its one-hour-long finale tomorrow, and fans are increasingly noticing a glaring issue with the show.

Despite its title, Young Sheldon has never focused solely on its titular character, devoting plenty of screen time to other characters. However, by the sixth season, it feels like this balanced approach to character development may have been taken too far.

Seeing how it premiered all the way back in September 2022, many viewers now feel the sixth season has been going on for far too long, with many even going as far as outright accusing it of being unnecessarily dragged out. The final two episodes are to air consecutively on 18 May, but that can hardly make up for the fact that the very character the show’s supposed to be about has been sidelined for most of the season.

While it's perfectly acceptable for Young Sheldon to develop all characters' storylines—as any good show with an ensemble cast should— Sheldon no longer holds centre stage on his own show. Instead of being at the heart of the narrative, he has effectively been relegated to a supporting role. Fixated on academic progress, Sheldon’s character lacks dynamism, and his interactions with other characters have been notably sparse and forgettable at best and mighty annoying and boring at worst, like the plotline about his project to build a database of research papers that ultimately devolved into a tug of war over who will implement it and get credit for it.

Certainly, the other Coopers offer more relatable and engaging storylines, drawing viewers into the spinoff.

Yet, season six of Young Sheldon has focused primarily on George and Mary's marital issues and parental struggles, to the exclusion of everything and everybody else. Even Connie, fondly known as Meemaw and arguably the show's most charismatic character, has mostly stayed in the wings this season.

Unfortunately, the course of the current season cannot be changed. However, with the announcement of a seventh season, we can still hold out hope for a better narrative trajectory for Sheldon, with more meaningful character development.