Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage is a spinoff of The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon, so it’s only natural that there will be cameos throughout the series.
Rachel Bay Jones, who plays Audrey on the upcoming CBS series, exclusively told Us Weekly about Annie Potts and Zoe Perry‘s appearance in the pilot — and whether there are plans for more returns.
“I love all of them and they definitely [are] coming back. We just filmed and wrapped the fifth episode and a bunch of [Young Sheldon] alums were there for that,” Jones, 54, teased about the actresses who play Mary Cooper and Meemaw, respectively. “We did a Thanksgiving episode with everybody and it was heaven.”
Jones is hoping actors from The Big Bang Theory franchise continue to show interest in returning on screen. (Raegan Revord is set to reprise her role as Missy Cooper as well.)
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“If Meemaw and Audrey could get into it, that would make me really happy because I love Annie Potts more than almost anyone on this planet,” she continued. “It would be really fun to continue to play with her. And we are promised their presence since it’s a small town, so you can’t escape all those other inhabitants.”
While reflecting on her journey to joining Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, Jones revealed the connection she had to the The Big Bang Theory universe.
“Annie Potts is one of my best friends so I obviously knew about Young Sheldon from the beginning and was such a fan of the show. Then she introduced me to this whole world. She’s the one who called up the casting director,” the actress revealed. “They needed a mom for Mandy and they offered me this role, which I thought was just going to be one or two episodes. Of course I loved [the character]. She’s very different than me. She’s a little more surly and says things that she may not mean but come out wrong. I just loved being part of that family even for a tiny bit. The fact that it grew and grew and turned into being a part of this spinoff with Georgie and Mandy is fantastic.”
The Big Bang Theory, which aired from 2007 to 2019, starred Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper), Kaley Cuoco (Penny Teller), Johnny Galecki (Leonard Hofstadter), Simon Helberg (Howard Wolowitz), Kunal Nayyar (Raj Koothrappali), Mayim Bialik (Amy Farrah Fowler) and Melissa Rauch (Bernadette Rostenkowski) as a group of friends made up of scientists and their significant others.
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Young Sheldon was picked up by CBS as a prequel to The Big Bang Theory. The follow-up focused on Sheldon (Iain Armitage) as a child prodigy growing up in Texas. Fans met Sheldon’s brother Georgie (Montana Jordan) and subsequently became invested in his love story with Mandy (Emily Osment). Young Sheldon came to an end in 2024 — but the franchise continued to expand with Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.
“Young Sheldon was a single-camera comedy, which is what we think of when we think of TV and film. The camera moves around the set and the multi-camera comedy [on Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage] is designed to be performed in front of an audience,” Jones explained. “It’s not just that there’s a laugh track — they’re just recording the audience’s laughter that is happening when we’re recording the show, which is amazing. A lot of people don’t know that it’s not canned laughter and it’s not fake. So they know in the moment when we’re performing it in front of the audience that if a joke’s not working as well as they want it or if they want to try something different, it’s all happening in real time right there.”
Jones is excited for fans of Young Sheldon to see how Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage reintroduces characters from Young Sheldon while bringing in some new faces.
“[The creative team has] taken the production feel and the design of Young Sheldon and they’ve brought it into this multi-camera world, which normally is bright and in your face comedy. So they’ve taken all of the heart and all of the depth and brought it into this format,” she continued. “They’re breaking new ground. It reminds me a lot of the old ’70s and ’80s sitcoms that dealt with real issues and had real things to say, but kept you laughing while you were feeling all the feels.”
Young Sheldon revealed that Mandy was estranged from her parents before Georgie got in contact with them. Mandy took major steps to work on her issues with her family and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage features the pair living with them and the obstacles that brings up.
“Audrey does care. She wants nothing more than the best for her family. She just really believes that she knows what is better than anybody else. So she’s really trying to force her own agenda through here,” Jones hinted. “Of course that creates a lot of conflict. But I think what’s really exciting for me is that we’re already starting to see different sides.”
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Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage shows more of Audrey as the season goes on, with Jones adding, “I have no doubt that these writers are going to continue to deepen her already complex character. I’m really just excited to be surprised by all of that. I don’t have an agenda, but as long as they continue to allow us to see more sides of this person, it’ll be very exciting for me as an actor.”
The only idea Jones has about the show is a musical crossover. (Jones comes from a Broadway background and has earned the 2017 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.)
“We’re plugging for it. [Creators] Chuck Lorre, Steven Molaro and Steve Holland are all musicians. So there’s a lot of musicians here. And Emily Osment is a pop singer,” she noted. “We all sing, we all dance and we all do all of those things. So maybe if you could put out in the world that we really need a musical episode, that would make me very happy.”
Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage airs on CBS Thursdays, October 17, at 8 p.m. ET with new episodes being released every week.
