WGA strikes have ended this month.
Can we expect the final season of Young Sheldon to come on tonight on CBS?
Let’s jump ship and get straight to the point. We have some unsettling news that does not bode well for the ardent Sheldon Cooper fans who have unabatedly awaited Season 7’s arrival on the CBS channel this fall. Unfortunately, Young Sheldon will not be airing its new season on CBS tonight, the reason being the current Herculean Hollywood obstacle that has changed the course of action of the giant production houses and streamers: the recently negotiated strikes!
Every year, as the leaves turn into vivid hues of coral and amber, we brew ourselves warm pumpkin spice lattes, tune into CBS, and binge-watch fresh seasons of the grandest scripted shows. This year is different. The fall series calendars are empty or are being frantically altered to match current scenarios, or reruns of the previous seasons are being used to fill up the void in order to give the viewers something to reminisce about.
Why, you ask? Well, right about when a domino effect was initiated and resulted in a series of high-demand shows being revived for newer seasons, the WGA strikes took shape in May 2023. While some already had a headstart at the production process, such as Stranger Things, Silo, and others, some other shows like Young Sheldon and Blue Bloods never got to witness the writers’ inks etch storylines onto their scripts.
Within a month, SAG AFTRA voiced in with WGA, resulting in a four-month-long double strike that has recently reached an agreement. With no scripts ready for Season 7 of Young Sheldon and no actors to film the sequences given that they are busy picketing their rights, CBS, much like its competitors, succumbed to releasing their fall 2023 schedules anyway, predicting that the strikes would dissipate by July. Hence, CBS made a proclamation amidst the strikes that Young Sheldon would air its new episodes this fall.
However, the channel was soon made to face the grave error of this decision and alter the schedule after two long months. Other competitor channels also followed. They updated that CBS will not air the new Season of Young Sheldon this fall. Instead, a unanimous decision was reached by the network to incorporate re-runs of the previous seasons on the CBS network every Thursday at 8 p.m.
Young Sheldon Season 7 Production: New Update After WGA Strike Deal
After 146 long days, the WGA finally struck a deal with the AMPTP that resulted in them getting big gains. Deadline shares the celebratory news that the writers’ room of Young Sheldon will resume their duties now that the strike is over. Aside from The Big Bang Theory spin-off, other shows that are set to open their respective writer’s room are ABC’s Abbott Elementary, The Cleaning Lady, Max’s The Sex Lives of College Girls, Fox’s Rescue: Hi-Surf, Fox Entertainment’s Animal Control and Sony TV and Fox Entertainment’s Alert.
Given that script writing is underway, when will the new season premiere?
Young Sheldon Season 7 Premiere Date Predictions
Recently, Missy actress Raegan Revord’s response to a fan on Instagram in September said that work would begin “when the strike is over.” When this will take shape, we don’t know yet. While the following prediction that we will make is not set in stone, it will provide the nervous viewers with a degree of solace and a specific time window to look forward to. Mind you. This prediction may alter as new updates surface, so keep an open mind going forward.
As of writing this, no new intel has been registered regarding the arrival of the new season. Let’s brush up on what we already know. A trend with the most competitive networks like CBS has come up where they revised their fall lineup schedules and released them featuring reruns of the original CBS shows instead of the promised new season.
This is because, amidst the SAG AFTRA WGA strikes, networks have found it promising and feasible to shift their scripted fall line-up series into 2024 and maintained reruns of the original series on the network, which won’t require new scripts or actors. A wise move if you ask me!
As it has already been hinted at by George Cheeks, President and CEO of CBS and Chief Content Officer, who stated during a keynote at Banff moderated by Deadline’s Peter White: “We wanted to build our schedule for when the world goes back to normal.” Further adding, “Once we had done that, once we locked it in, we spent a lot of time focusing on what it was going to look like.”
He elaborated that a revised CBS fall scheduling plan is expected to be revealed soon. “First of all, obviously it’s going to be very reality-heavy,” he added. Well, according to The Hidden Remote, it looks like Young Sheldon did bag a place in the fall schedule of CBS, in the sense that its earlier episode reruns will be shown. While it may not be what you had been hoping for, it is still better than not having Sheldon Cooper on our screens again. CBS noted that Young Sheldon will air every Thursday at the 8 p.m. time slot. Also, it is a great opportunity to catch up to the old seasons of the series in time for its 2024 release.
Yes, you heard that right! Creators indicate that scriptwriting should start by the end of this year in order for the new episodes to air within the first quarter of 2024. We are predicting a more realistic time frame given the volatile situation at hand, like the 2024 fall season.
This also follows the history of releases of every season of the series. Seasons 1,2 and 3 aired at the end of September, whereas Seasons 4, and 5 aired in November and October, respectively, but that was due to the pandemic. Season 6 also followed the traditional release at the end of September. However, with the WGA strike over and SAG AFTRA making headways in negotiations, we can expect the earlier estimation of a 1st quarter of 2024 release.
Young Sheldon Season 7 Expected Cast: Who Will Reprise Their Roles?
As per the progressive six seasons of the series, Young Sheldon mostly maintained the same faces, except for a few crucial additions. The main cast for this Season will probably continue with its alma mater:
Main Cast
- Iain Armitage as Sheldon Lee Cooper
- Jim Parsons as the voice of adult Sheldon
- Zoe Perry as Mary Cooper
- Lance Barber as George Cooper
- Montana Jordan as Georgie Cooper Jr.
- Raegan Revord as Missy Cooper
- Annie Potts as “Connie”/Meemaw
- Emily Osment as Mandy McAllister
Recurring Cast Members
- Craig T. Nelson as Dale Ballard
- Matt Hobby as Pastor Jeff Difford
- Melissa Peterman as Brenda Sparks
- Wyatt McClure as Billy Sparks
- Wallace Shawn as John Sturgis
- Ed Begley Jr. as Dr. Grant Linkletter
- Wendie Malick as President Linda Hagemeyer
- Dan Byrd as Pastor Rob
- Rachel Bay Jones as Audrey McAllister (Mandy’s mom)
- Will Sasso as Jim McAllister (Mandy’s dad)
Additionally, there may be a cast shakeup, given that the creators have hinted at Season 7 being the final one.
Young Sheldon Season 7 Announcement: A Possible Spinoff?
In April 2023, Max announced another Big Bang Theory spinoff. That’s right! The Big Bang Theory fever isn’t over yet, and from the looks of it, Max has amped up the thermometer a little more for the die-hard fans. Details of this have not been disclosed yet, so we do not know if it is a prequel or a sequel to The Big Bang Theory. What we do know is that it will have the infamous Chuck Lorre there, which has given us two revolutionary series, and that it will stream on HBO Max and Discovery+.
In the meantime, keep a close eye on Web News Observer for more details and future developments of your favorite shows.