Young Sheldon’s Lance Barber was very worried about playing George Cooper Sr.

Joining the cast of any prime-time network television show must be scary because you’re guaranteed to be seen by at least millions of people, and if you do poorly, it could mean the end of the show (and your steady paycheck). So just imagine what it must feel like to join the cast of a series that is a prequel to one of the most popular sitcoms of all time – the need to impress would be unreal. That’s exactly what Young Sheldon star Lance Barber faced when he signed on to play Cooper family patriarch George Sr. on the CBS spin-off The Big Bang Theory . It must have been terrifying to know how high the expectations were from fans who were also trying to establish a new series, but luckily Barber had nothing to worry about, as Young Sheldon became a hit in its own right, with quite a different tone from its parent series. how it developed.

Although The Big Bang Theory revealed that George Sr. died of a heart attack in 1994 when Sheldon was 14, the seventh season of Young Sheldon confirmed George’s death by killing off the character and even showing his funeral (with a fun cameo from a barber in disguise), there’s always the possibility that Barber could appear in future spinoffs of The Big Bang Theory. He could even potentially appearing in Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage which follows his character’s son, George Jr., or “Georgie,” played by Montana Jordan. Barber may have been nervous about playing the character at first, but now he’s an important part of the Big Bang Theory franchise, turning the creepy George Sr. from Sheldon’s Big Bang Theory memories into someone much more likable.

In an interview with Australia’s Channel 9Barber said that casting the CBS comedy was a bit of a challenge, in part because he felt he had to live up to the legacy of the original series while still making Young Sheldon his own. “I had a hard time initially: pleasing the ‘Big Bang’ audience,” he said, though he said he was proud to be a part of the show’s overall legacy. (Hardcore fans will remember that in addition to playing George Sr. on Young Sheldon, Barber also played Leonard’s high school nemesis, Jimmy Speckerman, in Season 5 of The Big Bang Theory.)

George Sr. was a completely different character Sheldon’s Memoirs (Jim Parsons). in “The Big Bang Theory” was noted as an alcoholic and even cheated on his wife. This was largely reworked for “Young Sheldon” for several reasons, including that there is a narrative in which Sheldon writes his own story, which would potentially gloss over the darker parts, and that the show is more family-oriented and won’t quite working with George Sr. from The Big Bang. When asked about how it felt to play a character that already existed to some degree, Barber was upbeat, saying, “I guess there’s a lack of freedom in a way, but (it’s) hard to figure out. ”

George Sr. is softened considerably in Young Sheldon, his betrayal of his wife is explained when Sheldon (Ian Armitage) sees his mother dressed as a German and mistakes her for a stranger, and some of the more unpleasant aspects have simply been revised. To be fair, series creator Chuck Lorre and the writers didn’t have Young Sheldon in mind when they wrote the early episodes of The Big Bang Theory, so the inconsistency was to be expected.

Even if George Sr. had been as awful in Young Sheldon as originally written, he still wouldn’t have been the worst dad Barber has ever played. Although it’s a very different comedy than The Big Bang Theory or Young Sheldon, Barber also starred in one of the films Best Supporting Characters on FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Bill Ponderosa. Bill isn’t just a womanizer who cheated on his wife, he also abuses drugs and alcohol in wild excess and eventually buys drugs from his own teenage son. He’s not just a bad dad, he’s a truly awful person, and it’s great to see him as both George H.W. and Pondy, because it shows how much range he has even within the confines of a sitcom dad role. Give this man his Emmy already!