Weird and beautiful: Jim Parsons on reprising 'The Big Bang Theory' character in 'Young Sheldon'

Jim Parsons has served as narrator on Young Sheldon for its entire seven-season run, but the May 16 finale will mark the first time characters from the original show will appear on screen

Actor Jim Parsons says it was both a "weird and beautiful" experience to reprise the role of the socially awkward genius Sheldon Cooper in the finale episode of Young Sheldon, the spin-off series of the parent show The Big Bang Theory.

Parsons has served as narrator on Young Sheldon for its entire seven-season run, but the May 16 finale will mark the first time characters from the original show will appear on screen. The actor along with The Big Bang Theory co-star Mayim Bialik will once again play their roles of Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler.

Asked what it was like to return as the popular character, Parsons said on an episode of Today show: "Very weird. Also very beautiful." The multiple Emmy winner said he was grateful to the makers of Young Sheldon for asking him and Bialik to reprise their roles.

“Big Bang Theory was always a live-audience show and Young Sheldon is a single-camera show, and I got to do it with Mayim — we both played Sheldon and Amy from the series — and to do it in that situation, it was just different enough that it wasn’t creepy.”

“Like going like, ‘What are we doing here again?!’ Instead, it was really sweet. It felt like the nicest little coda to the whole experience, and I was very grateful that they asked us to do it,” Parsons added.

Young Sheldon, which followed Sheldon Cooper growing up with his family in East Texas, premiered in 2017. Created by Chuck Lorre and Steven Molaro, the series starred Iain Armitage in the title role alongside Lance Barber, Zoe Perry, and Annie Potts.

The Big Bang Theory, which ran for 12 seasons from 2007 to 2019, also featured Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar and Melissa Rauch.