Montana Jordan and Emily Osment have been building excitement for their “Young Sheldon” spin-off, “Georgie and Mandy’s First

Marriage,” which is set to hit screens on October 17, 2024. The third show set in “The Big Bang Theory” universe was initially met with

some resistance for focusing on the newlywed couple rather than the remaining members of the Cooper family. However, that issue

dissipated when it was confirmed other characters would in fact be part of the series. The return of Mandy’s mom Audrey McAllister

(Rachel Bay Jones) as the couple’s major antagonist has also been confirmed — but she’s hardly the biggest problem the show has to face. In order to succeed, “Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage” will need to overcome one major hurdle; it needs the audience to like Mandy.

Mandy was first introduced in Season 5, Episode 11 of “Young Sheldon.” Although most fans are in agreement that Osment is a great addition to the show, many find themselves getting riled up by her character. In fact, Looper ranks her as one of the least likable characters on “Young Sheldon.” When they start dating, Mandy and Georgie both lie about their ages, and although Mandy comes clean before they sleep together, Georgie hides the fact he’s only 17 years old. Mandy ends their relationship when she finds out the truth, but she’s already pregnant.

Over the next two seasons, they learned to co-parent together and eventually fall in love, but viewers dislike the on-off nature of their relationship, with many continuing to feel uneasy about their age gap. Voicing disapproval of the couple, Redditor u/Mundane_AF said, “I think it’s unfortunate that they decided to go with that age difference. If he had even been 19, it wouldn’t have felt so upsetting. I had a visceral reaction to the initial meeting.”

The Young Sheldon spin-off has big plans for Mandy

The first episode of “Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage” will pick up one month after “Young Sheldon’s” emotionally devastating series finale. A big part of the show will focus on Georgie dealing with the aftermath of his father’s death and being there to support his mom, sister, and grandma. Additionally, he’ll be busy working at Mandy’s dad’s tire store, a plotline that was set up in “Young Sheldon” Season 7 and will eventually lead to him becoming Dr. Tire, as established in “The Big Bang Theory.”

Meanwhile, Mandy doesn’t have much to focus on besides raising CeeCee with Georgie. However, the spin-off plans to change that by rounding out her character and giving her a job to fill up her time. As “Young Sheldon” viewers know, Mandy works as a weather girl before she meets Georgie, and, while she doesn’t immediately secure a new job after having CeeCee, it seems she’s ready to get back to work. “It’s hinted in the marriage episode that [Mandy] wants to go back to school, that she maybe wants to have a career, that she doesn’t want to just be a stay-at-home mom, which is how I feel,” Emily Osment told People, adding that Mandy has plenty of options in front of her if she doesn’t want to go back to reading the weather report.

Perhaps this will give viewers a way to root for the character of Mandy more. For her part, Osment certainly thinks the show will benefit from Mandy having a job. “It’s much funnier when women are stressed out over their career than their children,” she told TVLine in a separate interview.