Iain Armitage was more ready than anyone else in the “Young Sheldon” cast to say goodbye when the CBS sitcom ended its seven-season run in 2024.

Armitage, who played the title character, said he was “the most happy about the show ending,” offering a strikingly candid account of how differently he processed the finale compared with some of his colleagues.

His comments appear in Jessica Radloff’s oral history, “Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy.” While some co-workers were deeply upset by the news, Armitage said he was not “going home and crying all day.”

For the actor, remaining in a prolonged period of mourning over the series felt “heavy and annoying and weird.” He added that he did not want to “stay in that heaviness forever.”

That response did not mean Armitage dismissed what the show had given him. Instead, he viewed its conclusion as part of an inevitable transition — one that would allow him to pursue other interests and opportunities.

“Plus, I wanted to be in Virginia. I wanted to be traveling, and I’m happy to do whatever movie comes up,” Armitage said. “And my mom has always imbued me with a very healthy sense of ephemerality, and the fact that nothing good can last and everything changes, and that’s a good thing.”

He was also clear that continuing indefinitely in the same part held little appeal. “I would hate to be on a show playing 23-year-old Sheldon,” he said. “That would suck. I wouldn’t want to do that.”

Looking Back Without Wanting to Go Back

Armitage was eight years old when “Young Sheldon” began. Two years after the series ended, his feelings have shifted toward what he described as “nostalgic sad.”

What he misses most is not a particular scene or isolated memory, but the larger experience of making the show. He said he misses working at Warner Bros., along with the crew and the people he loves.

“I love the act of acting. I love doing it. It’s fun,” Armitage said. “But not really specific moments. More the overall thing.”

Lance Barber, who played Sheldon’s father, George Sr., also recalled that Armitage appeared prepared for a new chapter as the show approached its conclusion.

“And Iain was ready, too … to move on to something else, artistically, and maybe personally … with things that boiled up a little bit toward the end of the season,” Barber said in the book. “I think a lot of people felt there were certain elements of the show that they were ready to move on from.”

Armitage has previously described his time on the sitcom as a “complete privilege,” while also acknowledging the demands it placed on him at such a young age. He called the series a “big undertaking for an 8-year-old.”

“I always did the best that I could, and sometimes kids are not perfect,” he said. “I was grateful to the people who understood that and gave me grace.”

ShowBiz Take

Armitage’s remarks matter because they complicate the familiar image of a cast uniformly devastated by a long-running show’s cancellation. He can miss the crew, value the work and feel nostalgic while still believing that ending the series was the right outcome for him.

His perspective also carries particular weight because “Young Sheldon” began when he was only eight and continued for seven seasons. Calling the experience both a privilege and a major undertaking allows room for two realities: the sitcom was meaningful to him, and he was ready for his life and work to change.

The end of “Young Sheldon” did not close the door on the show’s wider television world. The successful Sheldon Cooper-focused “Big Bang Theory” prequel generated its own spinoff, “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage,” which premiered in 2024.

For Armitage, however, the conclusion offered something he clearly wanted: the chance to leave Sheldon at the appropriate point rather than carry the character into adulthood. Two years later, his affection for the people and the process remains — but so does his conviction that it was time to move on.