The rare spinoff that built its own devoted following, Young Sheldon has kept audiences laughing and leaning in since 2017. Now, as the hit CBS sitcom enters its seventh and final season, Annie Potts — the beloved Meemaw to Sheldon Cooper — reflects on the show’s remarkable run, the kids who grew up before her eyes, and the bittersweet reality of saying goodbye. Along the way, she shares why the prequel resonates on both network TV and Netflix, how Meemaw broke the mold for older female characters, and what it felt like to witness a true slice of Hollywood history vanish before her eyes.
Why the End of Young Sheldon Hits So Hard
” alt=”Annie Potts as Meemaw on the Young Sheldon set”>“I’m gonna cry right now,” Annie Potts admits, still emotionally raw after the Television Critics Association’s Young Sheldon press panel. For seven seasons, she has inhabited Meemaw — the truth-telling, fiercely loyal grandmother who often balances Sheldon’s razor-sharp intellect with warmth, wit, and a worldly wink.
Part of the goodbye is personal. “I love the children. It’s been a privilege to watch them grow up,” she says, recalling the earliest days with Iain Armitage (Sheldon) and Raegan Revord (Missy). “They would get on my lap and kiss me and play with my fingernails, my ears… and all day long, they would say — and still do! — ‘I love you, Miss Annie.’”
The final season aligns with Young Sheldon’s internal timeline: Sheldon is now 14, nearing the age fans of The Big Bang Theory know he leaves Texas to attend Caltech. It makes narrative sense. Professionally, though, the end still surprises Potts. “I didn’t expect it,” she says. “We are the #1 show on network TV and the #1 show on Netflix. Who cancels that?”
Success on TV and Streaming: Why Viewers Keep Binging
Young Sheldon has proven unusually durable — not only as a prequel to one of television’s most successful comedies, but as a streaming staple. Potts understands why it clicks. “We’re like ice cream with chocolate sauce on it,” she laughs. “People are like, ‘Give me, give me!’ The show is very consumable, because the episodes end up being about 18–19 minutes long — so you can watch three in an hour. Everybody’s used to binging and they love to watch that way. It’s a good fit there, and it’s a great show.”
That snackable structure doesn’t dilute the heart. If anything, it sharpens the show’s focus: family, faith, ambition, and the friction points between them. And while the Cooper household is specific to East Texas in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the dilemmas are universal.
The Relatable Heart of a Big Bang Theory Prequel
What makes Young Sheldon resonate so widely? Potts points to the family dynamic. “Every family has an oddball in it — someone that they have to explain to others,” she says. Watching George, Mary, Missy, Georgie, and Meemaw navigate a “brilliant, difficult” child gives the show its emotional core. The humor never turns condescending; it springs from love, difference, and the negotiations every family makes to stay connected.
That balance — genuine affection with sharp observational comedy — is also a key throughline to The Big Bang Theory. Young Sheldon honors its predecessor while telling a story that stands on its own merits.
Meemaw’s Men, Mischief, and Independence
” alt=”Annie Potts as Meemaw with the Young Sheldon cast”>Meemaw, of course, is unlike anyone else in the Cooper clan. Where Mary leans on Scripture and structure, Meemaw favors common sense, a hint of rule-bending, and an unapologetic independence. She dispenses blunt advice, once opened an illegal gambling parlor, and has enjoyed more than a few romances — among them Wallace Shawn’s endearingly eccentric Dr. Sturgis, Richard Kind’s Ira, Ed Begley Jr.’s Dr. Linkletter, and Craig T. Nelson’s Dale.
“They were all suitors… but Craig T. stuck,” Potts says with a grin. “He’s a little slice of heaven. I love that Craig T. We have the best time. We just laugh, all day.”
Meemaw’s lively love life serves a purpose beyond laughs. “The writers seem to like to write that,” Potts says, noting how the character pushes back on limiting stereotypes. “I think they’re trying to support ideas that older women are still valued, valuable, and can be sexy.”
That spirit also informs Meemaw’s bond with Mandy (played by Emily Osment), the mother of Meemaw’s first grandchild. Their connection underscores a modern, intergenerational sisterhood — one built on support, respect, and the shared understanding that families are rarely simple but always worth fighting for.
A Farewell to Meemaw’s House — and a Piece of Hollywood History
” alt=”Warner Bros. Ranch Lot where Meemaw’s house once stood”>Fans mourned when a tornado demolished Meemaw’s home in the Season 6 finale — a clever story beat that, in reality, intersected with a major change on the Warner Bros. Ranch Lot. The storied backlot, used for exterior scenes on The Partridge Family, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Gidget, Friends, and more, has been completely leveled.
“My God, I’ve been working off and on over there for 50 years,” Potts marvels. The production used the planned demolition to stage the tornado’s aftermath, but the reality hit hard. “When I went to see it, it was like [gasps]. It really got me. And now I live in the neighborhood. I drive by it and the whole thing is flattened. It’s like a lot of history gone under.”
For an actress whose career spans stage and screen — from Pretty in Pink to the Toy Story franchise — the sight was more than a set change. It was the end of a physical archive, a place where multiple generations of TV and film intersected. That sense of loss deepens the final-season emotions surrounding Young Sheldon.
What’s Next for Annie Potts: Ghostbusters and Possibilities
While one era closes, another revs up. Potts suits up again for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, premiering March 22 — a nostalgic, fan-pleasing return to a franchise she helped define. It’s a reminder that her career has always moved fluidly between television and film, comedy and drama, legacy hits and fresh reinventions.
As for TV, the idea of reuniting with her Designing Women colleague Jean Smart still delights fans. Whether that means a visit to Hacks or another project entirely, the prospect underscores Potts’s enduring appeal and the appetite for smart, character-driven stories that center women at every age.
Why This Matters
Young Sheldon ends not because it ran out of jokes, but because its story reached a natural hinge point — the moment when a precocious Texas kid becomes the future Caltech physicist we first met on The Big Bang Theory. Annie Potts’s Meemaw helped carry the show to that point, giving it grit, warmth, and a rebellious streak that challenged assumptions about family, age, and ambition.
From network dominance to streaming supremacy, from tornado-tossed storylines to real-world set demolitions, the series has been a time capsule and a companion. As fans prepare to say goodbye, Potts’s reflections offer a reminder of why this world mattered: it felt real, it felt lived-in, and it gave us permission to laugh at the messiness of growing up — and growing older — together.
And for Potts, the work continues. With Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire on the horizon and plenty of audience goodwill in her corner, she’s poised for yet another chapter. The show may be ending, but Meemaw’s legacy — and Potts’s — is far from finished.