![‘Young Sheldon’ Star Returns to CBS in 1 Week With a Big Surprise [Exclusive]](https://www.newsbeep.com/nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/copy-of-collider-template-2026-04-09t122145-135.jpg)
2 years after Young Sheldon officially came to an end on CBS, series star Iain Armitage is set to return to the Thursday night lineup, but you won’t see him in the Georgie & Mandy spin-off. In one week, Armitage will be playing himself in a guest role on Ghosts! The episode, titled “Woodstone Royale,” sees Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) agree to host a high-stakes poker game at the mansion as they need to make a lot of cash very quickly after ghost shenanigans get them in over their heads with the IRS. Ahead of the episode, I sat down with Armitage to get the inside scoop on what fans can expect from his appearance on the show.
When asked about what Young Sheldon fans can expect from seeing him back in the Thursday night lineup, Armitage said, “Good point, I’m going to be in our usual spot. That’s tricky because this is sort of the first time I’ve gotten to do a very, very different style of character where I’m sort of playing myself in a fun way. Maybe not exactly,” he mused, “I’d like to think that, at least in real life, I’m a little bit nicer, but I don’t know.” The fictionalized version of Armitage will be participating in Sam and Jay’s poker game as a high roller and bringing plenty of laughs along with him.
Armitage had no shortage of love for the show’s script and his experience on set, for as much as he is a talented young actor, he’s also simply a massive fan of Ghosts. “It was such a funny and fun script to read and such a great time on set,” he explained. “I can’t wait for people to see it.” He also noted that, as an “occupational hazard,” TV isn’t always the first thing he reaches for when he’s looking to relax, but as the exception to that rule, Ghosts is appointment television for Armitage. “Ghosts is one of the only shows that I consistently would watch on the night it aired, right when I got home.” The Young Sheldon star went on to say that he hopes fans enjoy his turn on the show so much that they convince the writers that he simply must come back for future episodes, saying:
“I actually haven’t gotten to see the cut episode yet. There was one line, honestly, probably, I flubbed it by laughing over the line, but there was one line they needed to replace, so I got to see a clip of it while I was doing audio replacement, ADR, but I’m really excited to get to see the proper thing. So, I myself will be enjoying this for the first time, as well. But I hope it’s good enough that fans watch it and they’re like, ‘Oh my goodness, this guy needs to be on Ghosts way more often. This electric combination of Iain Armitage and the Ghosts cast is something that we need.’ So, feel free to write to the writers.”
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz
Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive?
The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do?
The first instinct is often the truest one.
APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it.
BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don’t keep you alive.
CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who’s pulling the strings.
DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it.
EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can’t fix a broken galaxy alone.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely?
What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don’t need resources — you can generate them.
BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it.
CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity.
DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on.
EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night?
Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant.
BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left.
CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you’re a problem, you’re already out of time.
DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn’t even know I was playing.
EThe Empire tightening its grip until there’s nowhere left to run.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust?
Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it.
BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better.
CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy.
DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can’t beat a system you refuse to understand.
EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term?
Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters.
BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest.
CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions.
DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand.
EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire’s attention rarely reaches.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart?
The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
AA tight crew of believers who’ve seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose.
BOne or two people I’d trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks.
CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice.
DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last.
EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all?
Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
AI won’t harm the innocent — even the ones who’d report me without hesitation.
BI do what I have to to protect the people I’ve chosen. Everything else is negotiable.
CThe line shifts depending on who’s asking and what’s at stake.
DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people’s future, even if it’d help now.
ESome lines, once crossed, can’t be uncrossed. I know which ones they are.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
What would actually make survival worth it?
Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it.
BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving.
CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out.
DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations.
EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else’s boot.
REVEAL MY WORLD →
Your Fate Has Been Calculated
You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
What’s Next for ‘Ghosts’ Season 5?
Before we jump into next week’s poker game extravaganza, there’s an all-new episode of Ghosts airing tonight on CBS, directed by series star Utkarsh Ambudkar. In “Michael Jackson Goes to HR,” Trevor (Asher Grodman) gets himself — and very likely Sam and Jay — into hot water when he sends a “stripper-gram” to one of his colleagues. Meanwhile, it’s trouble in paradise for Pete (Richie Moriarty) and Alberta (Danielle Pinnock) after he reveals he visited his ex-girlfriend while on one of his trips away. Next week, we’ll catch up with Armitage in “Woodstone Royale,” and on April 23, Justin Kirk will return as Tad the Mayor in “The Investor,” which sees Sam and Jay forced to make a difficult decision to save Woodstone, while Flower and Isaac’s political race for ghost representative finally comes to a head.
Beyond these episodes, Ghosts Season 5 is headed for the show’s first hour-long finale, set to air on May 21. Catch a new episode at 8:30 PM on CBS tonight and stay tuned next week for more from our conversation with Armitage!
Release Date
October 7, 2021
Directors
Christine Gernon, Jaime Eliezer Karas, Katie Locke O’Brien, Nick Wong, Jude Weng, Pete Chatmon, Richie Keen, Alex Hardcastle, Kimmy Gatewood, Matthew A. Cherry, Cortney Carrillo
Rose McIver
Samantha Arondekar
Utkarsh Ambudkar
Jay Arondekar