Sheldon Cooper is sticking around.
Young Sheldon has been renewed for three more seasons at CBS, the network announced Tuesday, bringing the half-hour comedy through at least season 7. The Big Bang Theory prequel series is currently in its fourth.
“Under Chuck Lorre’s and Steve Molaro’s deft leadership, this superb cast and gifted writers have truly brought these wonderful characters to life,” said Kelly Kahl, President of CBS Entertainment, citing the comedy’s strong ratings on Thursdays as a catalyst for the multi-year pickup. “The humor, warmth and heart exuded by the Cooper family is an undeniable hook for the millions of fans who tune in each week. We’re excited to see what the next three seasons have in store for a slightly older Sheldon and all the Coopers.”
Young Sheldon follows Sheldon Cooper’s childhood as he grows up in East Texas and embarks on his innocent, awkward and hopeful journey toward the man he will become.
Iain Armitage, Zoe Perry, Lance Barber, Montana Jordan, Raegan Revord and Annie Potts star in the series, which is executive produced by Lorre, Molaro, Jim Parsons and Todd Spiewak.
The season 4 premiere of Young Sheldon revealed Sheldon and Amy’s future son’s name is Leonard Cooper, and featured a special (voice) cameo by Mayim Bialik.
“It was not in the original draft from seven months ago and when we were going through the scripts again and gearing up to go back into production for this year, we had the idea to add in Mayim. And I gave her a call and she was just awesome about it and happy to do it and we’re just really glad it worked out,” Molaro said last November. “It was great to see her too — at a distance and wearing a mask.”
As for the conversations around what their son would ultimately be called, Molaro acknowledged that this was one Easter egg he’s had in his back pocket for years.
“I was on Big Bang for a long time — 12 years, the whole run — and there are things that I’ve always had in my head that were my own personal storylines of where things went and that’s one of them. So when the opportunity arises for me to slip them in on Young Sheldon, it’s fun to do. And the fact that his son was named Leonard was one that I’ve had banging around now for a while,” he revealed.
