Young Sheldon Season 6 Hints At The Big Bang Theory’s Georgie Twist

Young Sheldon’s Georgie may be a slacker, but season 6 of the spinoff explained how this didn’t get in the way of his success in The Big Bang Theory.

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Young Sheldon season 6, episode 11.

While the Young Sheldon version of Georgie isn’t a genius, he does possess a vital type of intelligence, and it’s this quality that explains his role in The Big Bang Theory. Viewers might reasonably have been surprised when Jerry O’Connell appeared in The Big Bang Theory as Sheldon’s older brother, Georgie. The character didn’t make his onscreen debut until The Big Bang Theory season 11, episode 23, “The Sibling Realignment,” by which point viewers had already heard Sheldon refer to him with the charming epithet, “mouth breathing idiot.” As such, discovering that Georgie was a successful business owner came as something of a shock.

In Young Sheldon, Georgie is a seemingly unintelligent if well-meaning slacker but, in The Big Bang Theory, this quality hasn’t impeded his business success. However, shortly after Young Sheldon set up Georgie’s resentment of Sheldon in the later show, the spinoff also explained how Sheldon’s brother pulled off this seemingly incongruous career success. Much like Sheldon’s sister Missy, Georgie is blessed with a level of social acumen that Sheldon doesn’t possess. Unlike Missy, however, he is later able to parlay this skill into a thriving business empire, and Young Sheldon season 6, episode 11, “Ruthless, Toothless, and a Week of Bed Rest.”

Related: Missy’s Young Sheldon S6 Reveal Could Foreshadow A TBBT Plotline

Young Sheldon Set Up Georgie’s Business Success

When Georgie delegated the running of 3 separate businesses between himself, George Sr, and Missy, successfully keeping all 3 open without any of his regular staff, the character exposed the source of his later career successes. While the dark fate of Young Sheldon’s George Sr meant that Georgie ended up working constantly to provide for his family, this eventually led the character to establish a successful chain of Dr. Tire automotive stores. Sheldon might object to the business’s use of the title “Doctor” in “The Sibling Realignment,” but there is no denying that Georgie’s genius in business is evident from “Ruthless, Toothless, and a Week of Bed Rest.”

Furthermore, Georgie’s successful negotiation of a major deal in “The Sibling Realignment” proves the character is perfectly intelligent when he has an active interest in the subject at hand. His expertise may be more commonplace than Sheldon’s areas of study, but Georgie’s questioning of Mandy’s doctor about a potential preeclampsia diagnosis earlier in “Ruthless, Toothless, and a Week of Bed Rest” proves he is not necessarily an unintelligent character. Like The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon is inconsistent when it comes to Georgie’s intelligence, but his detail-focused mind clearly served him well, judging by the success of the Dr. Tire brand.

Why This Mattered For The Big Bang Theory’s Georgie

If Sheldon’s brother was merely a less intelligent, less successful slacker, he would be a one-note character (and Sheldon’s dismissal of him could seem like nothing more than callous cruelty). Instead, his unexpected success made the older character more complex and compelling, and proves that there are sides to his family that Sheldon isn’t able to see until later in life. Sheldon’s one-track mind makes it understandable for the character to dismiss Georgie’s intelligence. However, Young Sheldon season 6 proves that viewers shouldn’t underestimate Georgie’s potential, much like his appearance on The Big Bang Theory proved both brothers had more potential for growth than viewers might have assumed.

New episodes of Young Sheldon season 6 air Thursdays on CBS

More: Young Sheldon Season 6 Proves The Big Bang Theory Wasted Missy