‘Young Sheldon’s Annie Potts Blasts CBS For Ending The Series Amid Strong Ratings: “A Stupid Business Move”

It appears that CBS‘ decision to end Young Sheldon early came as a surprise to not only the fans, but the cast itself.

During a recent interview with Variety, Young Sheldon stars Annie Potts and Iain Armitage reflected on the end of an era ahead of the series finale in May.

Potts confessed that filming the final season has been a “really emotional” experience for the cast. “It’s a little village that we have, and we’ve all taken care of each other and raised each other up. There will be a grievous hole in my life. There’s no question about it,” she said.

The seasoned actress added that saying goodbye to Young Sheldon proved to be “especially hard” despite her years in the industry.

“I was completely unprepared. I was shocked. I mean, the number one show on network TV, number one on Netflix,” she said. “We’re, I think, all that people watch on TikTok besides a couple of recipes for pasta. It just seemed like such a stupid business move. Forgive me, but I don’t know.”

She continued, “If a show is starting to drag or lag or have a lack of stories or whatever, then you kind of see it coming. We were totally ambushed by this. I was, anyway.”

Armitage, who stars as the young Sheldon Cooper, appeared to agree. “I totally get what Annie means,” he said. “This is a real loss for me. More than anyone. I definitely think we could have done a lot more.”

Decider has reached out to CBS for comment.

CBS announced in November 2023 that Season 7 would mark the show’s end, with an hour-long special to close out the series.

The announcement came as a surprise considering the show enjoyed strong ratings on CBS, boosted in part by the strong viewership it had on Netflix. The Season 7 premiere drew almost 8 million viewers earlier this year, marking the largest same-day audience the show has had since 2020, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment, acknowledged the show’s remarkable success when the series finale was announced, saying in a statement that the spinoff was proof that “lightning can strike twice.”

As for the finale, the network announced that Jim Parsons, who originated the legendary lead role, and Mayim Bialik will reprise their roles for the series’ final episode.

This will be their first time reuniting on screen since The Big Bang Theory ended in 2019.

Young Sheldon series finale will air May 16 at 8/7c on CBS.