What You Never Knew About Reba McEntire's Young Sheldon Cameos

Sheldon Cooper is known for two things: his genius mind and his Texas roots. Fans got a deeper glimpse into the latter on "The Big Bang Theory" spinoff "Young Sheldon," which followed the titular child brainiac (played by Iain Armitage, if you didn't know) and his quirky Southern upbringing. Of course, nothing says quintessential country quite like music legend Reba McEntire, which is why the show's producers had to have at least one cameo of the red-haired icon — a step up from Elon Musk's cameo. McEntire guest-starred on "Young Sheldon" in Seasons 3 and 5, making memorable appearances as the quick-witted hairstylist, June Ballard.

Hollywood veteran Annie Potts — who played Meemaw — revealed that McEntire's acting skills were put to the test on the "Young Sheldon" set. McEntire appeared in a scene with Potts, where the pair had to sing rounds of karaoke. McEntire's rendition of Dolly Parton's "Islands in the Stream" was awful by industry standards, which Potts says was the point. "The funny thing is that they wrote the part so that the idea was that she couldn't sing, so she sang off-key," Potts said on "The Jennifer Hudson Show." "If you're a really good singer, it is very difficult to sing off-key, but she just like, I don't know, went down or up a fifth and stayed there, and it was an astonishing thing." Potts noted that McEntire's ability to sing out of tune was "just a measure of how good she is."

Reba McEntire made one last, brief appearance in the "Young Sheldon" series finale, where June showed up at the Coopers' doorstep with a casserole after the death of the show's patriarch. The "Young Sheldon" crew said it was difficult to squeeze McEntire in, but they made it work. "Her schedule was crazy," executive producer Steve Holland told Variety, noting that she came to set in between shooting the pilot for "Happy's Place" and taping for "The Voice." "But she really wanted to be a part of it, and was like, 'If there's anything I can do, and if we can make the schedule work out ...' We said, 'We can have you in this one little cameo,' and she was like, 'Absolutely!'"

Seemingly a fan of the show herself, McEntire knew exactly how to ease the pain over the sitcom's ending. Melissa Peterman, who played Brenda Sparks on "Young Sheldon" — Peterman has also acted alongside McEntire in "Reba" and "Happy's Place" — posted a video of McEntire on Instagram that brought comfort to "Big Bang" fans, and probably Sheldon Cooper. "To everyone at 'Young Sheldon' and all the fans, what a ride, what a run, and this song might make you feel a little bit better," the musician said, before singing the trademark BBT lullaby, "Soft Kitty." Iain Armitage confirmed in the comments: "It still makes Iain feel better!" Us too, Iain ... us, too.