The Big Bang Theory: Why Meemaw Wasn’t At Sheldon & Amy’s Wedding

Sheldon had a very close relationship with his Meemaw, but she didn’t attend his and Amy’s wedding in The Big Bang Theory. Years of dating that even included a brief separation ultimately led to the couple tying the knot at the end of The Big Bang Theory season 11. Aside from their closest friends, the celebration was attended by the pair’s respective families, but there’s one particularly notable absence from Sheldon’s side of things — his grandmother, Meemaw.

Long before she made her physical debut on The Big Bang Theory, Meemaw was already an established character on The Big Bang Theory, thanks to Sheldon’s stories about her. While the socially-inept genius isn’t known for being affectionate, he’s very open about his love for Meemaw — even dubbing her as his favorite out of all his living family members. It was only in The Big Bang Theory season 9, episode 14 titled “The Meemaw Materialization” when she officially appeared after learning about Sheldon’s heartbreak from Amy splitting up with him.

Given how important Meemaw is to Sheldon, it’s odd that she didn’t attend her grandson’s life milestone when Sheldon married Amy in The Big Bang Theory season 11 finale titled “The Bow Tie Asymmetry.” In the episode, all of Sheldon’s remaining family members traveled to Pasadena, including Georgie, with whom he hadn’t been on speaking terms for a long time. Given the significance of the event and the clear effort that the show’s writers put into gathering nearly all of Sheldon’s family into The Big Bang Theory‘s Sheldon and Amy wedding episode, it’s especially surprising that Meemaw is missing. As it turns out, there are specific reasons behind Meemaw’s absence in The Big Bang Theory’s season 11 finale.

Why Meemaw Wasn’t In Sheldon’s Wedding In TBBT Season 11

The decision to exclude Meemaw from Sheldon and Amy’s wedding in The Big Bang Theory season 11 finale was due to a couple of reasons. According to showrunner Steve Holland in his interview with Deadline, the episode already had so many characters that it would be difficult to service all of them without sacrificing the story. He added that The Big Bang Theory‘s creative team didn’t want to confuse people with two versions of the character since Young Sheldon airs immediately following The Big Bang Theory. In Young Sheldon, Annie Potts plays a significantly different version of Meemaw than June Squibb’s, which would be jarring if the two versions were to appear back to back.

The Big Bang Theory‘s first explanation somehow makes sense; “The Bow Tie Asymmetry” episode was already packed with guest stars like Mark Hamill, who officiated the ceremony. Instead of focusing on the wedding itself, the episode also tackled several subplots, including the Coopers having a breakthrough with their scientific research. That’s already a lot of stories to cram into a 30-minute outing. That said, The Big Bang Theory should’ve at least made an effort to explain Meemaw’s absence instead of totally ignoring it. Holland revealed that while they did film a short scene where Meemaw explained why she couldn’t attend the ceremony, they ended up cutting it, once again due to time constraints. The thing is, The Big BangTheory‘s Sheldon-Amy wedding episode didn’t have to devote that much time to explain the situation; a brief line from Mary addressing it would do the trick.

What Happened To Meemaw In The Big Bang Theory

The good news is, nothing bad has happened to The Big Bang Theory‘s Meemaw. She’s still very much alive, and the only reasons she’s missing from The Big Bang Theory‘s season 11 finale have to do with writing and time constraints, rather than a canonical accident or death. The unused phone call scene Holland explains theoretically cited Meemaw being a bit too frail to travel as the reason for missing Sheldon’s wedding, which is understandable and not unduly worrying given that Meemaw is indeed pretty elderly by the end of The Big Bang Theory‘s timeline.

Aside from the direct implications of Meemaw’s absence from Sheldon’s wedding in The Big Bang Theory‘s season 11 finale, it also highlights one of, if not the offshoot’s biggest issue — Young Sheldon‘s frequent Big Bang Theory plotholes due to a lax approach when it comes to preserving continuity. Holland essentially admitted to this through his second explanation; the fact that they expected people to be confused between Potts and Squibb’s version of the character means they knew that they are vastly different, almost as if they’re entirely two different people. This is the reason why The Big Bang Theory fans aren’t exactly keen on the prequel spin-off, which frankly is totally understandable.

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