Iain Armitage shuts down playing 23-year-old Sheldon: "That would suck"
Iain Armitage is all-in on the boy genius — but don’t expect him to take up Sheldon Cooper’s adult mantle.
In a candid interview for Jessica Radloff’s upcoming oral history, Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy, Iain Armitage makes it clear he has zero interest in aging his character up. After nearly seven years playing Sheldon Cooper on Young Sheldon, the actor says any version where he’s 23 is a nonstarter.
“I would hate to be on a show playing 23-year-old Sheldon. That would suck. I would not want to do that,” he said.
Armitage also isn’t big on grieving the show’s end. He told Radloff that dwelling on it felt “heavy and annoying and weird,” and he’d rather look forward — travel, spend more time in Virginia, and jump at movie opportunities when they pop up.
That doesn’t mean he’s leaving the people behind. He says he misses the Warner Bros. lot, the crew, and the colleagues he grew up with, even if he isn’t the type to obsess over specific on-set memories. For him, the bigger picture — and the next chapter — matters more.
What he’s doing next
- The Adam Trials — a psychological thriller with a sci‑fi edge starring Martin Freeman. Armitage plays a terminally ill son whose parents turn to experimental nanotechnology in a desperate attempt to save him.
- Scoob!: Holiday Haunt — he recorded voice work reprising Young Shaggy, but the completed animated movie was shelved by Warner Bros. Discovery and hasn’t been released.