The actor who played George Cooper in the beloved sitcom Young Sheldon might have had to experience the loss of the character, but that didn't stop him from attending his funeral.
Saying goodbye to characters in TV shows can be hard for viewers, so I can't even imagine what it must be like for the actors who have spent years bringing them to life.
Lance Barber landed the role of George Sr. in Young Sheldon in 2017, and later made another appearance as Sheldon's dad in The Big Bang Theory in 2018.
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After seven years on TV, Young Sheldon came to an end last week with an episode titled 'Funeral', which tackles the aftermath of George Sr.'s unexpected death.
Obviously, it wouldn't make sense for the character of George to sit among the crowds at the funeral, but after filming more than 140 episodes of Young Sheldon, Barber obviously didn't want to miss out on its grand finale.
In order to blend in with the crowd, Barber dressed up in disguise as a female version of himself, an entirely new character dubbed Georgina.
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Images of the actor, dressed in a grey wig and yellow glasses and clutching a handbag, were shared on Instagram by Raegan Revord, who played Missy in the series.
"Fun fact: Lance dressed up as Georgina and attended his [own] funeral," Revord wrote alongside the image.
In a wide shot from the episode, 'Georgina' can be seen sitting at the back of the church as the funeral took place.
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Though the cameo marked Barber's final appearance in the series, his last scene as George actually took place in the previous episode, when he was seen leaving for work.
Thinking it was just another day, George's family barely acknowledged his departure - it was only later they realized they'd never have chance to see him again.
Executive producer Steve Holland spoke to Variety about the decision to end Barber's role they way they did, since The Big Bang Theory had already revealed that Sheldon's dad was dead.
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"We always knew we were going to address it this season," Holland said of the final season. "We always knew we were going to get to the funeral this season. And we always knew that George’s death would happen off-screen, that we didn’t want to witness it. It was just a question of when.
"There was a version of this, as we talked about it earlier on, where it would have been: The finale would have been the death and the funeral. I think it was Chuck [Lorre, executive producer] who said, “This is mostly a positive, uplifting show. Let’s not leave the audience deep in their grief. Let’s watch the family start to piece itself back together, and let’s end with a little hope.'
"So then that re-shifted when we were going to do it."
Fans have been left emotional after saying goodbye both to George and Young Sheldon itself, with viewers taking to X to describe the ending as 'perfect'.
Topics: Film and TV, Viral
Emily Brown