The Young Sheldon Finale's Big Bang Theory Cameo Even Hardcore Fans Missed
"The Big Bang Theory" set the franchise's tone for welcoming big-name Hollywood celebs to the small screen, even for the briefest of scenes. Everyone from Sheldon's hero, Leonard Nimoy, to Mark Hamill to Stan Lee made an appearance on the sitcom. Following suit, "Young Sheldon" also had a number of impressive guest stars, and even welcomed Jim Parsons back to the screen along with his TV wife, Mayim Bialik. But sometimes, the cameos are less obvious, like this one in the finale, which even hardcore fans of "The Big Bang Theory" will have most likely missed.
Talking about the blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo, "Young Sheldon" executive producer Steve Holland told Entertainment Weekly that it featured someone very significant behind the scenes. "It is for nobody, because no one would recognize it. He has an exchange with a professor on campus, and that's David Saltzberg, who is our science consultant since Big Bang Theory all through Young Sheldon," he said.
In the scene, Sheldon (Iain Armitage) is admiring the Caltech sign and taking in his new university campus when a professor comes up to him and asks him if he's lost. Since the scene is about the new chapter in Sheldon's life, producers felt that having a famous actor or scientist appear in the role would be too distracting. Instead, they opted to give Saltzberg some of the on-screen glory. "We realized [Saltzberg], other than ["Big Bang Theory" and "Young Sheldon" co-creator Chuck Lorre] and Jim, has been with this character the longest, because he worked on the first Big Bang Theory pilot, so it's really just a nice way for us to honor David and all the contributions he's made to both of these shows for the last 16 years," Holland said.
David Saltzberg's cameo helps end the show on a hopeful note
Though he only appears for the briefest of moments, having David Saltzberg do the cameo and bump into Sheldon sets the scene for the titular young scientist to end the show on a hopeful note. "I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be," he says happily to the professor as he soaks in his new reality at Caltech. This is exactly what "Young Sheldon" bosses wanted. "Sheldon going off into his new life was always our idea, to end it on a hopeful, upbeat note. We know that his new life is full of family and friends, and good things happen to him, so that always felt like the right last moment," Steve Holland said.
In a previous interview with Variety, in which Holland revealed that he and the other "Young Sheldon" bosses had George's death planned out since Season 1, the executive producer explained that the show nearly ended with George's funeral. However, they found that Sheldon spreading his wings in California would be a more positive way to end the show, especially after such an emotional final season.