Two and a Half Men's Melanie Lynskey Is Young Sheldon's New Philosophy Professor — Watch Sneak Peek

Ryan Schwartz
·2 min read
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Young Sheldon: The College Years are upon us — and TVLine has an exclusive first look.

In Thursday’s episode (CBS, 8/7c), Sheldon’s first day at East Texas Tech is derailed by his new philosophy teacher, Professor Ericson, played by none other than Two and Half Men‘s Melanie Lynskey — aka Charlie Harper’s stalker-turned-wife-turned-captor Rose.

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In the following video, the future theoretical physicist interrupts Ericson to dispute Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu’s butterfly parable — but the professor is not so easily intimidated by her 11-year-old pupil. She even manages to stump the boy genius with an anecdote about a long, strange trip at a Grateful Dead concert.

Thursday’s Young Sheldon is the first of three consecutive new episodes, after just one new episode aired in January (due to pandemic-related production delays). In that episode, Sheldon’s mentor Dr. Sturgis revealed to Mary that he had taken a new job working on a supercollider, and he would no longer be on campus to look after Sheldon as he’d promised her in Season 3’s finale.

Sturgis’ sudden career change was steered by real-life obstacles brought on by the pandemic. Portrayer Wallace Shawn is based in New York, while the Big Bang Theory prequel films in Los Angeles. “[He] will be in upcoming episodes, [and we’ll be] shooting pieces in New York to mesh into the show,” series co-creator Steve Molaro previously told TVLine. “He will be back a little bit later in the season, but it does present a challenge [right now].”

Are you looking forward to Lynskey’s guest turn on Young Sheldon? Hit the comments with your reactions.

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