“Young Sheldon” star Emily Osment asked producers for an intimacy coordinator before filming romantic scenes with co-star Montana Jordan, citing the age gap between the two actors, according to a new oral history of the CBS comedy.
Osment joined the series in its fifth season as Mandy McAllister, the older love interest of Jordan’s character, Georgie Cooper. She was 30 at the time and Jordan was 18, and she told author Jessica Radloff the planned kissing scenes made her uncomfortable. She recalled thinking of her scene partner as a child. “He was a baby! A baby with a mullet,” she said.
Osment took the concern to producer Tim Marx. The production could not find a coordinator that late in the day, but one attended the following episodes as the couple’s relationship intensified. She said the presence made the work easier and called the practice important. She also worried about Jordan. She suspected he did not know he could ask for the same support, and said he would likely absorb his discomfort quietly.
Director Alex Reid offered a different account of the first shoot. He acknowledged the production missed the need for a coordinator at the start, and said the show’s lack of sex scenes explained the oversight. Reid said a between-takes photo of the pair in a parked car shows them looking away from each other. He said Osment confirmed both actors felt awkward. In his view, the problem came less from the missing coordinator than from asking two people who had barely met to kiss.
The pairing endured. Osment became a series regular in Season 6 and stayed until the show ended in 2024. She and Jordan now lead the spinoff “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage,” which is in its third season. Reid noted that the two have built strong chemistry since that first day.
Radloff’s book, which draws on interviews with cast and crew, also records the show’s disagreements and exhaustion alongside its success. The Osment episode adds to a growing set of industry accounts about when productions bring in intimacy coordinators, and how late.
