Actress Emily Osment requested an intimacy coordinator while filming kissing scenes with co-star Montana Jordan on the CBS sitcom “Young Sheldon” due to their substantial age difference, according to accounts published in a new behind-the-scenes book.
Osment was 29 or 30 when she joined the fifth season of the popular comedy as Mandy McAllister, an older weather forecaster who begins an unexpected romance with Jordan’s character, Georgie Cooper. Jordan was 18 at the time, leading to a gap of more than a decade between the two performers, outlets reported.
Her perspective was revealed in author Jessica Radloff’s book, “Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy,” as reported by Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter.
Addressing the age gap on set
In the book, Osment explained that normal professional romance scenes were not the issue, but Jordan’s youth gave her pause.
“My concern wasn’t the discomfort of making out with someone after just meeting them; I’m an actor, so that’s something I’m used to,” Osment said in the book. “My discomfort was that he was eighteen. And that made me uncomfortable. He was a baby! A baby with a mullet.”
Osment approached producer Tim Marx about bringing an intimacy professional onto the set. While the crew could not arrange one immediately that day, the production secured a coordinator for subsequent episodes as their characters’ romantic storyline progressed.
Osment also noted that her request was motivated by looking out for Jordan. Having worked in entertainment since childhood on projects including “Spy Kids” and “Hannah Montana,” she worried Jordan might hesitate to speak up for himself if he felt uneasy.
“I don’t know if Montana even knew if he could ask for that,” Osment said. “Like, let’s give him the option, too. Make him comfortable. And he’s such a sweet kid, I think he would just eat his discomfort.”
Directors and producers reflect on the decision
Director Alex Reid, who helmed the fifth-season episode where the romance sparks, acknowledged that the crew had overlooked the need because the network comedy did not feature graphic sexuality.
“We don’t have sex scenes on the show, so it wasn’t a muscle we were used to using, and they were just kissing,” Reid recalled to Radloff, saying the production “totally dropped the ball on that” and calling Osment “a thousand percent right” to raise the issue.
Reid recalled looking at a photograph of the actors sitting in a car during production breaks, looking away from one another awkwardly because they barely knew each other. Although he described the early situation as “kind of embarrassing,” he noted the pair quickly found their footing.
Series co-creator Steve Molaro confirmed in the book that Osment had every right to ask for the resource, adding that the performers eventually grew comfortable working together without one as their working relationship developed.
From initial hesitation to a prime-time spinoff
Intimacy coordinators have become increasingly standard across film and television productions in recent years, though they are more commonly associated with explicit premium-cable dramas than network half-hour comedies.
“Young Sheldon,” which served as a prequel spinoff to “The Big Bang Theory,” concluded its seven-season run in May 2024. Jordan portrayed Georgie across the entirety of the series, while Osment joined in 2022 and appeared in 39 episodes over the final three seasons.
The on-screen pairing proved successful with viewers and network executives alike. CBS subsequently developed a direct spinoff centered on their characters, titled “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage,” where Osment and Jordan continue to lead the cast on Thursday nights.
