The Big Bang Theory Universe is alive and well thanks to spinoffs Stuart Fails to Save the Universe and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage on the 2026 TV schedule. The latter is a spinoff of the prequel series Young Sheldon, the Iain Armitage-led comedy that ran for seven seasons on CBS before ultimately ending in 2024. There were plenty of rumors about when Young Sheldon would end before the official announcement was made, and I just found out why Chuck Lorre and co. actually ended the series.Despite being a success, Young Sheldon’s creative team discussed eventually ending the series following the COVID-19 pandemic and the Hollywood strikes in 2023. An excerpt from Jessica Radloff’s upcoming book Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy, out on October 20, explores how the decision to end Young Sheldon came to be. Prior to the strikes, Season 6 was just wrapping up, and Young Sheldon had one more year on its three-season renewal, meaning that the main cast would have to negotiate new contracts if an eighth season were to happen. The longer the show remained on the air, though, the less they’d be able to hold off on addressing some major Big Bang Theory plot points that would shape Sheldon’s life, such as his dad dying and going to Caltech. Co-creator Steve Molaro admitted in the book that he didn’t want to make a show without George Sr. or Sheldon away at grad school, especially since that school was in a completely different state. While showrunner and executive producer Steve Holland had agreed, he was open to seeing what an eighth season would look like, as he recalled him and Molaro meeting with Lorre to discuss options (via The Hollywood Reporter):Molaro and I sat down at Chuck’s house and chatted about whether there was a world beyond George dying and Sheldon going away. And as we were talking about it, it felt like the story arc that was Young Sheldon was really so much about Sheldon looking back on his relationship specifically with his dad, and realizing and seeing it as a dad in a different light.Even though Young Sheldon had already made some callbacks to The Big Bang Theory, addressing a few plots that were first brought up on its predecessor, there was only so much that the team could do when it came to George’s death and Sheldon going off to Caltech. Seeing the relationship between Sheldon and his dad has definitely been special in the prequel. It’s why the creative team thought that, ultimately, while the show could have theoretically continued, going on without either of them wouldn’t have felt right, as Holland shared:That wasn’t the thesis statement going in, but as the show went on, it became very clear that the emotional through line was an older Sheldon with kids looking back on his parents, but specifically his dad, and realizing that he had maybe been unfair to him for most of his life. And it felt like that was the end of that show. It also felt like coming back to it without Sheldon there or George there … it would be hard to just to not live in the grief of George being gone. It felt like it was going to be going past the end of the story.It’s definitely understandable, and I can’t imagine how Young Sheldon would have continued, which is why Georgie & Mandy has been a great addition. You still get to see a lot of these characters in different ways, while Sheldon lives his life in California. Lorre couldn’t help but agree with the Steves, especially since the show’s title soon wouldn’t make sense:I absolutely agreed that we told the story, and once season seven was finished, Young Sheldon had come to an end. Sheldon was now taller than most of the other characters on the show, so the “young” word was kind of looking a little silly.I feel like Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage is a great look at what would have been Young Sheldon beyond Season 7, but Young Sheldon without the titular character wouldn’t really make sense. Plus, Molaro pointed out that they couldn’t exactly follow Sheldon to Caltech because that would be just prior to The Big Bang Theory, and he wasn’t interested in telling stories from before Sheldon met Leonard. He understands that while Season 8 would have made sense on paper, he just didn’t agree with it creatively, and I honestly think they made the right decision.Fans can always watch all seven seasons of Young Sheldon with an HBO Max subscription. To see a (spiritual) continuation of the series, new episodes of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage air on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and stream the next day with a Paramount+ subscription.