‘Young Sheldon’ Star Calls Cancellation ‘Such A Stupid Business Move’

Just because Young Sheldon got the ax doesn’t mean its stars have to like it. And Annie Potts, who played Meemaw on the canceled show, isn’t being shy about her displeasure. In a conversation with Variety, Potts put the sitcom powers-that-be on blast.

“I was completely unprepared. I was shocked,” she complained. “I mean, the No. 1 show on network TV, No. 1 on Netflix. We’re, I think, all that people watch on TikTok besides a couple of recipes for pasta. It just seemed like such a stupid business move. Forgive me, but I don’t know. If a show is starting to drag or lag or have a lack of stories or whatever, then you kind of see it coming. We were totally ambushed by this. I was, anyway.”

Iain Armitage, the kid who plays Young Sheldon, is co-signing whatever petition Potts is trying to get going. “I totally get what Annie means,” he said. “It’s also just hard in a really weird way that I can only really see if I step back and try and take a global view, which is hard. I mean, I’m not going to get to see Annie Potts every day. This is a real loss for me. More than anyone. I definitely think we could have done a lot more.”

Potts actually has a point. Ratings for this season’s Young Sheldon have been higher than ever at a time when networks are struggling for viewers. So why pull the plug on an established hit when its stars want to keep it going? 

One reason might simply be that Armitage isn’t that young anymore. Because so much of Sheldon’s history is canon, including the fact that he goes to Cal Tech at age 14, it might be a problem that the actor playing him is aging faster than the show can crank out new seasons. Then there’s the Cal Tech issue — would the sitcom have to relocate with new sets and new characters? 

None of these problems are insurmountable but… Okay, we get it. 

That, though, doesn’t mean Potts and Armitage have to like it. Ending the show’s seven-year run has “been really, really, really emotional,” Potts says. “I mean, it’s been half of Iain’s life, and it’s been a 10th of mine, but at 70, that feels significant.”

Because Big Bang Theory came first, we know what happens to the major players in Young Sheldon. The original show even had Meemaw (played there by June Squibb). “We get to know that she and Sheldon are still so close and have such a nice relationship,” says Armitage. “It’s cool, because in a weird way, even though this show is ending, it’s comforting to know there’s a whole other series with twelve more seasons to watch.”

As for Potts, she’ll have plenty of paper products on hand for the series finale on May 16. “A box of tissues,” she says, “with a roll of paper towels from the kitchen.”