😱 Shock: You Won’t Believe What George’s Death Means for Young Sheldon’s Finale!”

As TVLine was first to report, Zoe Perry (Mary), Raegan Revord (Missy), Annie Potts (Meemaw) and Craig T. Nelson (Dale) will guest-star in Episode 5 of the highly anticipated offshoot, which sees the Cooper and McAllister clans come together for their first Thanksgiving since the death of George Sr.

“It has been great to throw them all [into the mix] because there’s already just so much built-in tension in that world,” series co-creator Steve Holland tells TVLine. “This is Georgie’s first Thanksgiving without his father, and that’s a big deal. To see his family also dealing with that, and Georgie trying to be the one to hold his family together, just seemed like a really rich story area. Mandy wanting to give him that Thanksgiving with his whole family is the driving force behind that story.”

Annie Potts (Meemaw) in Episode 1 Troy Harvey/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Prior to Thanksgiving, Perry and Potts will appear as Mary and Meemaw in Georgie & Mandy’s Oct. 17 premiere, while Revord will reprise Missy in Episode 2 (airing Thursday, Oct. 24). But while Georgie’s other sibling, 14-year-old science prodigy Sheldon, is referenced throughout those first two episodes, portrayer Iain Armitage does not make an appearance — and that’s by design.

“We would love to [have Sheldon appear] if we found the right episode for Iain,” Holland says. “We love him, and he’s been super supportive… but we’re trying to establish this show and give it its own identity.

“Obviously, the Cooper family is still in Medford. It makes much more sense in these stories to have Mary pop over, or have Meemaw pop over,” the EP explains. “Sheldon is in California now, so if Sheldon is coming into the story, there has to be a bigger reason for it. If we can find a story where he is used to inform our characters, then that’s great. But we also know from Big Bang, in that [Season 11] discussion with Adult Georgie, that Sheldon didn’t come home a lot. He left and didn’t come [back] much, and Georgie was left to pick up the brunt of the family baggage.”

In a Young Sheldon series finale interview with TVLine, Armitage said that he would be “honored to” reprise Sheldon on Georgie & Mandy, adding, “If I got a call to go back, that’d be so much fun. I’m also just excited to get to sit back on my couch with some popcorn and watch their show because they’re so good. But I could totally see myself getting in the khakis again, putting on the old penny loafers and bow tie, and going back out on the job.”