Executive producer Steve Holland explains George's cheating story retcon in Young Sheldon. Ever since it was revealed in The Big Bang Theory season 10, episode 5 "Hot Tub Contamination," the Cooper patriarch's affair became one of the most anticipated plots in the prequel. Young Sheldon season 7's attempt to stick to the established canon somehow forced it to tackle it before the show ends. Instead of just showing it like Sheldon told the experience to Penny, Young Sheldon opted to retcon George's affair narrative.
On the heels of Young Sheldon's end, Holland talked to TVLine to discuss arguably one of the biggest plots in the prequel. Instead of validating Sheldon's narrative, the series revealed that it was all a misunderstanding, as he walked in on George with Mary, who was wearing a costume. Read the showrunner's full explanation below:
He did not know it was Mary. He still thinks he walked in [on his father cheating]. I think that’s a moment where Sheldon thought he saw something. He thought he saw his dad with another woman, and he didn’t , and there’s a sadness to that, that he’s carried that all these years. Again, we’re trying to acknowledge — and we’ve talked about this a lot, like, how do we acknowledge larger Big Bang canon but not have to be tied to every joke? [George cheating] felt like larger Big Bang canon because it’s tied to his three knocks, which is a big deal, and as we got deeper into the show, it also just didn’t feel like this was the kind of show where we wanted to deal with too much infidelity. We hinted at it a little bit [with the Brenda Sparks character], so we talked about a way to close that loophole. Maybe this was a thing [where] Sheldon isn’t lying, but he’s not in possession of all the facts.
Why Young Sheldon's George Cheating Retcon Is Divisive
George's Cheating Scandal Was Supposed To Be Traumatic.
Based on Holland's quote, it means that adult Sheldon in the Young Sheldon finale flashforward is still clueless about what really happened when he caught his dad in an awkward position decades ago. Admittedly, the prequel isn't good at preserving the continuity. Through the years, it has created countless plot holes of varying degrees. Still, retconning George's cheating scandal and finding a way out of implicating the Cooper patriarch without breaking canon was quite impressive. Unfortunately, some viewers were frustrated because of how it used Sheldon's traumatic experience for laughs.
It was one of his saddest childhood anecdotes, with the socially-inept genius seeming still affected by it in The Big Bang Theory, so retconning it for laughs has led to backlash.
For context, when Sheldon shared the story about catching George's infidelity, it was presented as something that truly changed him. It was one of his saddest childhood anecdotes, with the socially inept genius seeming still affected by it in The Big Bang Theory, so retconning it for laughs has led to backlash. Additionally, some viewers also didn't appreciate that Young Sheldon had been building up George's affair with Brenda only for the prequel to drop it unceremoniously. There was no pay-off whatsoever, even though their burgeoning relationship was the primary source of tension in the series for at least two years.
Ultimately, however, Sheldon's admission of his love for his father in the Young Sheldon finale recontextualizes George's cheating scandal. This means that, despite the Cooper patriarch's transgressions in his eyes, Sheldon has been able to look past it and still acknowledge that George was a good man. If only The Big Bang Theory universe could also see Mary admit that she was wrong about George in the flagship series, his image would be fully rehabilitated.
