Summary

• Mary Cooper's return to Christianity on Young Sheldon could signal the beginning of a possible villainous arc for the character.
• Young Sheldon depicts a softer version of Mary Cooper compared to her judgmental and mean-spirited portrayal on The Big Bang Theory.
• Mary's transformation in Young Sheldon helps explain her behavior in the original series, with hints of a potential religious shift in season 7.

Mary's return to her Christian faith in Young Sheldon season 7 could be a start to her villain arc. The Mary Cooper fans first meet in The Big Bang Theory is vindictive and mean-spirited, but her character in the prequel is much softer. Much of Mary's judgemental nature in the sequel is due to her devout Christianity.

After the Cooper matriarch returns home from Germany with Sheldon, she finds herself out of place. As she re-incorporates herself into family life, she also starts to indulge in her bad habits. The end of season seven could see Mary become the CBS's show as she becomes a devout Christian.

With George Sr's impending death in Young Sheldon, fans are theorizing that the matriarch turns to religion to cope with the untimely passing of her husband.

In the following, we take a look at why Big Bang Theory fans have referred to Mary Cooper as a villain in the original series. We also discuss how Young Sheldon is planting those negative seeds in Sheldon's mom and whether Mary will appear in the Georgie and Mandy Young Sheldon spin-off.

Why Mary Cooper Is Considered A Villain In The Big Bang Theory

Throughout her appearances on The Big Bang Theory, Mary Cooper relentlessly criticized her late husband, George, and judged her youngest son, Sheldon (played by Jim Parsons). On the CBS comedy, she appeared controlling and unsympathetic to any of her son's quirks.

While Mary is not totally a villain in The Big Bang Theory, she is much meaner than her Young Sheldon incarnation.

In the Big Bang Theory, Mary Cooper was much more committed to being a Christian than she has been shown in Young Sheldon.

According to ScreenRant, throughout Mary Cooper's Big Bang Theory appearances, "Sheldon's mom often used her faith as a justification for her bad behavior, particularly towards Sheldon's friends. Mary was racist towards Raj, anti-Semitic towards Howard, and misogynist towards Penny."

As viewers now know, Mary hasn't always been this mean and judgmental. Seeing her retrospectively and knowing she hasn't always been that critical of her family has made the TBBT jokes much harsher.

Mary’s bitterness isn’t present in Young Sheldon, but losing her husband so suddenly and so young could explain why she changed so much between Young Sheldon and The Big Bang Theory.

Fans have been confused by the way Mary and adult Sheldon talk about George after his death. They depict him as being drunk, angry, and a terrible family man. This is very different from the George on Young Sheldon, a kind father who looks after his family well. Fans have speculated that their badmouthing of him in the sequel could be a coping mechanism. This would make the jokes about George on TBBT sad in retrospect.

How Young Sheldon Season 7 Is Making Mary Cooper's Villainous Arc Make Sense

Mary has gone through a transformation over the last few seasons of Young Sheldon. It starts when she is removed from Pastor Jeff's church after her son's girlfriend becomes unexpectedly pregnant.

Removing herself from her church duties appeared to positively affect Mary, who used the time to focus more on her family. As Mary was a devout Christian in The Big Bang Theory, fans did expect religion to come back into the life of Sheldon's mother.

Aspects of Mary Cooper's villain arc began to appear in season 5, around the time Georgie impregnated his girlfriend, Mandy. The matriarch was immediately more concerned with how the baby would make her look than how it would affect her son's life. She also struggled to have sympathy with how the family drama was affecting Sheldon's studies, more worried about her place in the church.

In Young Sheldon season 7, episode 5, "A Frankenstein's Monster and a Crazy Church Guy," Mary appears to have rediscovered her devout faith. Instead of returning to Pastor Jeff's organization, she gets sucked into a TV congregation and conned into sending money to them. George, angry that his wife sent money to a church, convinces her to go back to Pastor Jeff.

Because George is anticipated to die before the seventh season of Young Sheldon, fans are expecting Mary to turn even more to religion. In The Big Bang Theory, Mary's devoutness causes riffs between her and Sheldon. Mary often uses her faith as an excuse to be rude and treat Sheldon's friends badly. Returning to the church in Young Sheldon, helps put Mary on the path to being the character audiences know from the CBS original series.

Will Mary Cooper Appear In The Young Sheldon Spinoff With Georgie And Mandy?

Although Young Sheldon ends with season seven, it's not the end of the road for the Cooper family. CBS has announced a new spinoff centered on Georgie and Mandy "as they raise their young family in Texas while navigating the challenges of adulthood, parenting and marriage."

The new CBS show will follow a similar format to Young Sheldon and consist of half-hour episodes, but the spinoff will be a multi-camera comedy instead of a single camera. Fans can expect to see it in the 2024-25 season.

It has not yet been announced whether any other Coopers will appear in the Georgie-and-Mandy spinoff. Raegan Revord, who plays Georgie’s younger sister Missy, has indicated that she’s ready to move on and was not invited to appear in the upcoming spinoff.

“I’ve spent half of my life here, so I’m kind of ready to see what’s next, but I am so insanely happy for Montana.”

Revord told TV Insider, praising Montana Jordan, who plays Georgie in the sitcom, “He is so talented and amazing. And I’m so happy for Emily. They’re amazing actors, and they’re just going to kill it.”

It may be that this sequel will put a distance between the young parents and the Cooper family. Considering Missy's absence, it's unlikely Mary and Meemaw will be regulars in the spinoff. Given the family's cramped living arrangements, Georgie and Missy may move away from Medford to start a new life. We expect the newlyweds to stay in Texas, where Georgie's future business is.