Iain Armitage Says He Was 'Most Happy' Young Sheldon Ended

Iain Armitage has admitted he was the Young Sheldon cast member "the most happy about the show ending." He was eight when the CBS sitcom began and a teenager when it wrapped after seven seasons in 2024.

His confession appears in Jessica Radloff's oral history, "Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw's-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy," via US Weekly. Most farewell-cast quotes run sentimental. This one runs the other way.

Armitage, who played the titular boy genius, said he wasn't "going home and crying all day" like some co-workers when the series ended. He called the atmosphere of mourning around the show "heavy and annoying and weird" — and refused, in his words, to "stay in that heaviness forever."

Why did he want out?

The reasons were practical, not dramatic. "Plus, I wanted to be in Virginia. I wanted to be traveling, and I'm happy to do whatever movie comes up," Armitage said. "And my mom has always imbued me with a very healthy sense of ephemerality, and the fact that nothing good can last and everything changes, and that's a good thing."

He drew one hard line: aging out. "I would hate to be on a show playing 23-year-old Sheldon. That would suck. I wouldn't want to do that." It's a fair worry. Few child leads survive the transition to adult parts with their characters intact.

Two years on, he said looking back feels "nostalgic sad." "I miss working at Warner Bros., I miss the crew and the people I love. I love the act of acting. I love doing it. It's fun. But not really specific moments. More the overall thing."

What did his co-stars know?

Lance Barber, who played Sheldon's father George Sr., suggested the feeling wasn't confined to the show's lead. "And Iain was ready, too … to move on to something else, artistically, and maybe personally … with things that boiled up a little bit toward the end of the season," Barber said in the book. "I think a lot of people felt there were certain elements of the show that they were ready to move on from."

That "a lot of people" does quiet work in the sentence. Barber leaves the elements unnamed.

In a previously released excerpt of Radloff's book, Armitage framed the job itself as a weight for a child actor. He called the series a "complete privilege" but "a big undertaking for an 8-year-old." "I always did the best that I could, and sometimes kids are not perfect," he said. "I was grateful to the people who understood that and gave me grace."

What comes after Sheldon?

The franchise, at least, isn't going anywhere. Young Sheldon ran seven seasons as the Sheldon Cooper-focused prequel to The Big Bang Theory, and it has already produced its own spinoff, Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage, which premiered in 2024.

Armitage, meanwhile, has signaled what he wants next: travel, Virginia, and "whatever movie comes up." Radloff's book — brisket jokes and all — may be the fullest account of what actually happened on that soundstage, and of why its young star walked out the door without tears.