Young Sheldon’s Iain Armitage on Life After the Final Season and What He’ll Keep from Big Bang Spinoff (Exclusive)

As Young Sheldon heads into its final season, Iain Armitage reflects on the past seven years and what lies ahead.

The 15-year-old actor was 8 years old when he auditioned to play the younger version of Jim Parsons’ character Sheldon Cooper in Big Bang Theory. The fact that he essentially grew up on the CBS sitcom wasn’t lost on him, he told PEOPLE exclusively.

“It’s been half my life, it’s kind of wild to think about it, but it’s just so much fun, so wonderful, and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to grow up,” he says, adding, “Every person that I get to work with, I feel so honored to be able to to collaborate with them and be their costar or … be part of their business and part of their livelihood.”

Young SheldonNetflix rise surprises 15-year-old star Iain Armitage: ‘I’m not into kids’ (Exclusive)

Iain Armitage during the first season of ‘Young Sheldon’.

Robert Voets/CBS via Getty

The actor will next voice the iconic character Shaggy in the upcoming Christmas-themed animated film Scoob!: The Holiday Haven, joining a cast that includes Mark Hamill, Ming-Na Wen, Crist Fernandez and the late Andre Braugher. After that, Armitage says he’d like to tackle a project at “the exact opposite end of the spectrum” from Young Sheldon.

“It’s funny, because I had so much fun doing this character for seven great years that it would be great to do something… completely different from Sheldon in every way,” he explains, adding, “I’d love to do something indie, maybe something action, maybe something sci-fi, just something super different and weird. Again like a drama Big little lies.”

While some actors like to keep something from a show or movie they’ve worked on as a reminder of their time on a project, Armitage says he prefers to keep one or two traits of his unique character.

Everything you need to know Young Sheldon Season 7

Iain Armitage during season 6 of ‘Young Sheldon’.

Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty

“It’s funny, because I’m always kind of joking about method acting [which] it seems so silly to me… but it’s weird. I really kind of feel like half Sheldon, half Ian,” he admits. “I would like to keep my brain. I’d like to keep that once-in-a-generation genius part, but instead, I think the way he approaches the world is funny and unique, and I always hope to approach the world and people as uniquely and really focus on each person as much as I can.”

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Season 7 of Young Sheldon airs Thursdays at 8:00 PM ET on CBS.

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Source: HIS Education