Raegan Revord on writing her next chapter

At 16 years old, Raegan Revord has spent almost half her life on Young Sheldon as Missy Cooper, the extraordinarily witty and deeply empathetic twin sister to the show’s namesake. She’s played a pivotal role in helping the show, a spinoff and prequel to CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, eclipse the popularity of its predecessor. “It’s honestly been really cool, seeing it become this world of its own and get its own fanbase,” Revord says of her experience on the show. “I had someone come up to me the other day and tell me, ‘I finished Young Sheldon, and I’m going to start watching Big Bang Theory now.’”

At the time of her audition, Revord was not yet familiar with The Big Bang Theory. “I was nine. The Big Bang Theory isn’t really fit for that age range, so I’d never heard of it. I’d never seen it,” she says. “I saw a few clips when I first started auditioning to learn about it a little bit. I watched a lot of the scenes [that] older Missy (Courtney Henggeler) is in at the end of the show, but I’d never seen it.” 

While The Big Bang Theory follows Sheldon Cooper and his friend group of brilliant scientists as they come to terms with social life outside their lab, Young Sheldon travels back in time to explore his origin story. Set in the 90s, the series follows the Cooper family, headed by parents George (Lance Barber) and Mary (Zoe Perry), as they raise their children in Texas. The Coopers are rounded out by Sheldon (Iain Armitage), a gifted child prodigy with an affinity for calculations and comic books, and Georgie (Montana Jordan), the typical teenaged older brother with a hidden heart of gold. Young Sheldon is relieved of the pre-recorded laugh track The Big Bang Theory once had, but the show still incorporates moments of comedy within drama. According to many fans, it’s Missy who delivers the bulk of Young Sheldon’s comedic relief through snarky remarks and sharp comebacks.

As for Revord herself, who has grown up through the seven seasons of the show and found a second family in cast members like Montana Jordan, the finale also meant a melancholic farewell to the life and character of Missy Cooper. “It’s bittersweet,” she says. “It honestly feels surreal. I was talking to Lance, who plays George, and we were both saying [how] we’re gaslighting ourselves into thinking we’re just on summer break hiatus, and we’re going to be coming back for season eight.”

Young Sheldon gave its last hurrah in May, boasting a viewership of nearly 12 million as the last episode aired. Viewers mourned the loss of the show, as well as the fictional family unit they had come to love and adore. For the cast, the atmosphere of shooting those final scenes was no different and further fueled the emotionally-charged ending. After George’s unexpected death in episode 12, the Cooper family gathers around the dining table for the first time without him, with each member of the family processing their raw grief in different ways. The Coopers’ attempt to preserve some semblance of normalcy in their usually dynamic household is met with a discernible absence that weighs them down.

“It was very somber because everyone was trying to be a professional, but you could tell there was just an added emotion to it that there normally isn’t,” Revord says. “The last take of our last scene was miserable. The dinner scene in [Episode] 14 was our last scene [of filming] the show, and everyone was just sitting there during that last take. Throughout the entire take, my chin was vibrating. I was trying not to cry. I was staring at those mashed potatoes like my life depended on it.”