Young Thomas

Young Thomas is an British coming-of-age sitcom series for YouTube and Twitch. The series, set in the late 1990s and early 2000s, is a spin-off prequel to The Sidemen and It begins with Thomas Carter at the age of seven, living with his family in Northern Ireland and going to secondary school. Thomas Carter himself narrates the series in the present day and is also an executive producer. Its pilot episode debuted as a sneak preview on January 5, 2023 and it began airing after The Sidemen on Thursdays, March 19, 2023 It is currently airing on YouTube.
On May 1, 2023, the show was renewed for a second season, which premiered on September 24, 2023. It was renewed again for a third and fourth season by CBS on October 22, 2024. The fourth season premiered on November 5, 2025.
On March 30, 2026, the series was renewed for three seasons, running throughout the 2026-2028 season. The fifth season premiered on October 7, 2026.
== Plot ==
The show is a family sitcom, patterned on Thomas's recollection of his childhood years growing up in the 1990s with a wholesome, tight-knit, - Irish family, where being a once-in-a-generation mind capable of advanced mathematics and science isn't always helpful in a land where church and football are king and also attending a cross-town, comprehensive public secondary school age 7. The series starts just after the parents have moved their children to a new town after George Sr (Thomas's father) got fired from his previous job for snitching on one of his colleagues.
Thomas is a 7 year old child prodigy who tries to fit into a world full of more socially normal people, including his own family and friends, who do not quite understand how to deal with his unique intellectual capabilities and social ineptitude. Thomas passed all his GCSEs age 9 and graduates school before attending college full time to do his A-Levels. 
Thomas's family are nothing like him and do not share his intelligence which makes it hard for them to understand him and must find a ways to deal with him. His father, George is struggling his way as a football coach in Medfield High School. His mother, Rosemary works at the church and a conscientious and religious housewife and mother who is fiercely protective of the family, (especially Thomas). Thomas's older brother, Georgie, does the best he can in high school, but it's tough to be cool when you're in the same classes with your odd 7-year-old brother. Finally, there's Thomas's twin sister, Peggy, who sometimes resents all the attention Thomas gets, but also remains the one person who can reliably tell Thomas the truth.
In the series premiere, adult Thomas states "nobody I knew in Medfield in 1999 cared about Newtonian physics". Several other episodes make spoken or written references to, or reference historic or pop cultural events from the 1990s.
== Overview ==
Thomas narrates as his adult self.
The trailer shows how Thomas Carter became who he is. He still had the arrogant, egotistical, misunderstood and narcissistic personality even when he was young. He still continued to criticize others and think he was a superior to everyone else.
Thomas was watching Professor Proton when he was a kid and was his inspiration to become a scientist.
Thomas Carter's timeline on the show starts from the fall of 1999, when he started secondary school at age 7. Thomas wouldn't start college until two years later, and he wouldn't leave for London until 2004.
== Episodes ==
Season	Episodes	Episodes	Originally aired 	Originally aired	Rank	Avg. viewers
(millions)
Season	Episodes	Episodes	First aired 	Last aired 	Rank	Avg. viewers
(millions)
1 	22 	22 	January 5, 2023 	May 10, 2023 	6 	16.30
2 	22 	22 	September 24, 2023	May 16, 2024 	5 	14.37
3 	18 	18 	September 26, 2024	April 30, 2025 	8 	11.45
4 	18 	18 	November 5, 2025 	May 13, 2026 	12 	9.45
5 	22 	22 	October 7, 2026 	May 19, 2027 	8 	9.21
6 	22 	22 	September 29, 2027	May 13, 2028 	 	
7 	 	 	Late 2028 	Mid 2029 	 	
== Cast ==
==== Main Characters ====
* Thomas Carter - 7 year old child prodigy well-versed in various branches of mathematics and science. He states that he decided to pursue physics around the same time as the show began. While academically gifted, Thomas sometimes lacks a full understanding of social cues, in addition to having a sense of superiority over everyone around him. Nevertheless, Thomas has proven to love his family and almost always has his heart in the right place. He is Georgie's younger brother, Peggy’s fraternal older twin brother. He is age 7 in the first season and age 10 by the fourth series.
* George Carter Sr - Thomas, Peggy, and Georgie's father; a Vietnam veteran; and the former head football coach at Medfield High School. George does not share Thomas's intellect, which sometimes leads others, especially Glenda, to doubt his genetic relationship to Thomas. He is often at odds with his children and particularly struggles to understand Thomas, but he does try to be a caring and responsible father. In The Sidemen, it is stated that George Carter Sr. will pass away when Thomas is 13 years old in 2004.
* Rosemary Carter (Tucker) - mother of Thomas, Peggy, and Georgie. She is very protective and patient with Thomas, but also struggles to understand him at times. She is a devout Southern Baptist, working at her local church, and sometimes objects to Thomas's atheism. Nevertheless, she deeply loves her son and wants to protect him for as long as she can. In Young Thomas her personality was a lot different than in The Sidemen. She is shown to sometimes be is very controlling and can be mean when provoked. She also inherited some of Thomas's antics, she is very controlling, hates change, always thinking she is right and also criticizes people. She always thinks she is perfect or superior.
* Georgie Carter Jr - Thomas and Peggy's older brother. Georgie resents the attention his parents pay to Thomas. He does not do well at school and gets mocked and teased for it by the rest of the family, particularly Thomas and Glenda. He does not get along with Thomas because he's tired of always being compared to his brother. He attends Medfield High School with Thomas and plays on the school's football team. At age 15, he drops out of school to work full-time and discovers a talent for sales that will lead him to become the wealthy owner of a tire store chain in The Sidemen.
* Peggy Carter - Georgie's younger sister and Thomas's fraternal younger twin sister. She teases Thomas along with Georgie but not as much. She does not share Thomas's intelligence, but is very perceptive. Occasionally, she does not get along with Thomas, but she finds in her twin brother a solid confidant and has admitted to not feeling as whole without him. She also very protective of him and shows love for him even though she constantly denies it. She is very attractive, and is usually given nice gifts from the neighbourhood kids; for example, Billy Sparks (one of her admirers) bought her a basket of eggs.
* Glenda Tucker - Thomas, Peggy and Georgie's maternal grandmother and Rosemary's mother. She is a fun-loving woman who can be sarcastic and often mocks those around her, especially George Sr. On the other hand, she is patient with Thomas and sometimes struggles to understand him, whom she affectionately calls 'Moonpie', and advises Rosemary to trust that Thomas will find his way. In the fourth season, she was said to be 68 years old.
*Amanda McAllister (season 6; recurring season 5), Georgie's 29-year-old girlfriend, whom he gets pregnant
==== Recurring Characters ====
* Dr Surgis (season 1–present), a college physics professor whose class Thomas attends as his first college course. He dates Glenda with Thomas's encouragement in seasons 1 through 3. He also works for a grocery store from later season 4 to early season 5 after being fired from working on a hadron super collider, before getting fired again.
*Pastor Jeff Sifford (season 1–present), the upbeat pastor at the Carter family's Baptist church. Like Rosemary, he too sometimes has friction with Thomas's irreligious side and often challenges Thomas to explore their line of thought through logic exercises.
* Tam Nguyen (season 1–4), Thomas's Vietnamese-British childhood best friend and classmate. Tam is responsible for introducing Thomas to many of his non-scientific interests, including comic books and role-playing games. Tam is Thomas's only friend who consistently puts up with him. Tam appears again on The Sidemen.
*Billy Sparks (season 1–present), the son of Herschel and Brenda, whom his mother implies is in no danger of going to college. He was originally portrayed as Thomas's nemesis, but becomes much friendlier early in the series. He has an unrequited crush on Peggy.
* Herschel Sparks (seasons 1–2), Billy's father and Brenda's husband, who owns a garage and divorces his wife in season 4
* Brenda Sparks (season 1–present), Billy's mother, Herschel's wife until season 4, and Rose's initial nemesis and eventual friend, who works at the bowling alley frequented by Glenda.
* Assistant Coach Wayne Wilkins (season 1–present), Thomas's P.E. teacher and the former assistant, now head football coach at Medfield High. He was originally given the name Roy, but it was changed to Wayne as of the episode "A Broom Closet and Satan's Monopoly Board".
* Victoria Mahaffey (seasons 1–3), Thomas's homeroom and English teacher at Medfield High
* Danielle Pinnock (seasons 1–4), Thomas's math teacher at Medfield High.
* Hubert Givens (season 1–present), Thomas's science teacher at Medfield High
* Ryan Petersen (season 1–present), the principal of Medfield High
* Sarah Hutchins (season 1–present), the Medfield High librarian
* Jason Alexander (season 1–present), Medfield School's resident drama teacher
* Peg (season 1–present), Pastor Jeff's chain-smoking secretary
* Chris (seasons 1–3), the owner of the comic book store King Kong Comics
* Veronica Smith (seasons 2–3), Georgie's Halloween date who is introduced in "Seven Deadly Sins and a Small Carl Sagan". She becomes a Christian after witnessing the "lust" room in Mr. Lundy's haunted house and loses interest in Georgie, who continues trying to win her over. She starts liking Georgie but backs off after he starts dating Jana.
* Dr. Grant Linkletter (season 2–present), a colleague of Dr. Finally. He regularly pursues Glenda but is continually rebuffed.
* Paige Swanson (season 2–present), a child prodigy whom Thomas views as his rival.
* Andrea Swanson (seasons 2–4), Paige's mother
* Officer Robin (seasons 2–3), Pastor Jeff's second wife who works as a police officer
* Dale Ballard (season 3–present), Peggy's baseball coach and Glenda's new boyfriend after Dr. Surgis breaks up with her; he owns a sporting goods store and hires Georgie and George to work there.
* June (season 3–present), Dale's ex-wife, the local hairdresser whom Glenda befriends.
* Jana Allen (season 3–5), Georgie's girlfriend after he gives up pursuing Veronica, but she breaks up with him in season 5 since she is upset that he decided to drop out of school
* Marcus Larson (seasons 3–4), Peggy's boyfriend
* Linda Havemeier (season 4–present), the president of Thomas's university
*Pastor Rob (season 5), a young, unorthodox pastor hired by Pastor Jeff to teach Sunday school. He and Rosemary appear to become mutually interested in one another during the fifth season, which upsets George.
* Darren (season 5), one of Thomas's new college dorm room neighbours
* Ivan Monk (season 5), one of Thomas's new college dorm room neighbours
* Rachel McCallister (season 6), Mandy's mother
* Will McCallister (season 6), Mandy's father
==== One Episode Characters ====
* Ms. Fenley, a music teacher at Thomas's high school. 
* Nurse Vernee Watson, a nurse who caters to George when he suffers a mild heart attack and then to Thomas when he has his gall bladder removed.
* Dr. Goetsch, the psychiatrist Thomas sees when he has Phagophobia and when he loses at the Medfield High science fair.
* Vincent, Glenda's bookie.
* Dr. Hills, a NASA engineer and college roommate of Mr. Givens. He makes a presentation about his work to Mr. Givens' science class, which intrigues Thomas to solve the challenges of reusable launch systems.
* Dr. Eberland, Thomas's doctor.
* Mrs Karly Veazey, Dr. Hills' secretary.
* Dr Frances Conroy, headmaster of the boarding school Thomas briefly attends.
* Harry Conroy, Dr. Conory' husband.
* Tam's father. He runs Medfield Mart with his wife.
* Tam's mother and Mr. Nguyen's wife.
*Tams's sisters 
* Richard Kind, as one of Glenda's boyfriends.
* Selena, as Pastor Jeff's ex-wife
* Libby, an year 9 student who aspires to be a geologist and whom Thomas and Tam befriend.
* Bobbi Sparks, Billy Sparks' younger sister with a reputation for tormenting Thomas.
* Mrs. Costello, a Medfield High School counsellor
* Barry Swanson, Paige's father.
* Erica Swanson, Paige's sister, who bonds with Georgie and Peggy because they share common experiences being siblings of child prodigies.
* Ricky, Thomas hospital roommate in "A Tummy Ache and a Whale of a Metaphor"
* John Rubinstein
* Preston
* Dorothy, Veronica's grandmother.
* Sam, a member of Thomas's project group.
* Nolan, a member of Thomas's project group.
* Louie, the owner of a trophy shop where Rosemary wants to buy one for Peggy.
* Dr. Bowers, Thomas's dentist.
* Professor Dora Ericson, Thomas's college philosophy professor
* Gary, Thomas's university benefactor
* Darlene Wilkins, Coach Wilkins' wife
* Hortense, Vern and Doris, Glenda's friends.
* Jake, a police officer and Dale Ballard's acquaintance.
* Professor Boucher, a former Army engineer and a professor of engineering at Thomas’s university.
* Dr. Carol Lee, a physicist brought in to lead a project that Thomas, Dr. Surgis, and Dr. Linkletter are working on.
==== Guest Stars ====
* Stephen Hawking - (voice-only).
*Elon Musk - 
*Arthur Jeffries - a scientist who plays the title character of Professor Proton, Thomas's favourite educational television series. The character is an homage to Mr. Wizard. Newhart reprises his portrayal of the character from The Sidemen.
==== Original cast cameos ====
* Amira Moore - Thomas's wife and the mother of his daughter Trixy Carter. Her role is reprised from The Sidemen. She appears as part of the narration.
* James Wolfowitz - an aeronautical engineer and one of Thomas’s adulthood friends. This role is reprised from The Sidemen. He appears as part of the narration.
== Overlap with the parent series ==
In most cases different actors are used to portray a given character in the two series, to account for the age difference. Thomas Carter is a notable exception in that he appears in both series as the same character, though in this series his appearance is limited to voice only. In the Season 4 episode "Graduation", Amira Moore (wife of adult Thomas) has a brief voice-over role while Thomas describes the graduation party for their daughter Trixy Carter. Bob Newhart appears as Professor Proton in both series; with the appearance in this series, the character is made to look younger. 
The second-season finale episode aired immediately following the one-hour series finale of the parent series. In a tribute to the parent series finale, several references are made to it in the Young Thomas episode. The references are both general to the entire parent series, as well as to the series finale in particular. In one scene in the Young Thomas episode, Thomas promises his father that when he wins the Nobel Prize, Thomas will mention him in his acceptance speech. In the parent series finale, Thomas wins the Nobel Prize, and he does mention his father (amongst others) in the acceptance speech. In another scene in the Young Thomas episode, Nobel Prize winners are announced out over a montage showing the main characters from the parent series Lewis, Penny, JJ, Simon, Ethan, Harry, Vik, James, Talia, Katie, Faith, Bernadette, and Amira as children. Lewis's mother and James's mother in the parent series, make a voice appearance in the montage (a posthumous appearance in the case of Susi). Following the montage, adult Thomas says that he was wrong about feeling at the moment of the Nobel prize announcement that he would be all alone for the rest of his life.
== Production ==
=== Development ===
=== Casting ===
=== Overlap with the parent series ===
== Title sequence ==
The show's title sequence is played to the song "Mighty Little Man" by Steve Burns. The song is the first track in Burns' 2003 album Songs for Dustmites. The background in the first two series shows mountains and a desert, whilst the foreground has Sheldon (usually in bow tie, checked shirt, shorts and cowboy boots) walking out, standing triumphantly, before he notices a cow and backs away from it, before resuming his triumphant look as the logo appears and pans to the sky. Occasionally, a tumbleweed appears, instead of the cow. The title sequence was changed from Season 3 onwards to include the entire Cooper family, as well as showing Sheldon in different costumes, such as Albert Einstein, Mr. Spock, The Flash, an astronaut, and a train engineer. Season 5 features a black bull in place of the cow.
== Release ==
=== Broadcast ===
Young Sheldon began airing weekly episodes on CBS on November 2, 2017, after The Big Bang Theory. It premiered as a special preview on September 25, 2017.
=== Syndication ===
Young Sheldon entered off-network syndication on Nick at Nite as of November 30, 2020.
In the United Kingdom, Young Sheldon is aired on the free-to-air channel E4, with season 1 premiered on February 22, 2018. Subsequent seasons premiered on November 8, 2018, and October 10, 2019, for seasons 2 and 3 respectively. Season 4 of Young Sheldon premiered on October 20, 2021, on E4 at 9 pm  Season 5 of Young Sheldon premiered on April 24, 2022 at 8pm on E4. On September 27, 2021, the series entered syndication in local markets, covering roughly 90% of the United States. The series also entered off-network syndication on TBS and began airing on September 27, 2021.
=== Streaming ===
== Timeline ==
# 1999-2000: Season 1 takes place.
# 2000-2001: Season 2 takes place.
# 2001: Season 3 takes place.
# 2001-2002: Season 4 takes place.
# 2002: Season 5 takes place.
#2002-2003: Season 6 takes place.
#2003-2004: Season 7 takes place.
== Production Notes ==
* A sneak preview aired on January 5, 2023 at 8:30 p.m.
* Since Thomas was born on January 19, 1993 and the series follows Thomas at age 7 that means the series takes place starting in 1999.
** It is shown in the first trailer that it does take place in 1999.
** This show features the first on screen appearances of Thomas's father, George Carter Sr. and older brother George Carter Jr.
* This show is an alternative to Malcolm In The Middle.
* The third season takes place in the beginning of 2001, the fourth season takes place in the late 2001 to 2002. The fifth season takes place in the beginning of 2002, the sixth season will take place in the late 2002 to 2003 and the seventh season will take place in the late 2003 to 2004.
* It was picked up for a full season on January 5, 2023.
* This is the first time we get to see two shows with an adult Thomas in The Sidemen and Young Thomas.
* Young Thomas holds lots of similarities to the arguably much more popular American sitcom Everybody Hates Chris in that they revolve on the unfortunate childhoods of celebrities with their older selves narrating. Both series would hold 22 episodes per season though Young Thomas was shortened to 21 episodes in season 3 due to COVID-19 pandemic and they both have series starting with some certain word at the start except for Young Thomas debut. As for season 4, with Coronavirus still strong, the season was shortened to 18 episodes. As for Lewis, James, Harry, JJ, Simon, Ethan, Vik and Penny etc, if they were to also receive spin-off shows, they would likely also be similar to Everybody Hates Chris.