Young Sheldon star Emily Osment warns fans that the series finale will 'truly break your heart'

When fans curl up on the couch to watch the series finale of Young Sheldon this week, they should come prepared with plenty of tissues.

That's according to star Emily Osment, who has played Mandy McAllister on the Big Bang Theory spinoff for three seasons and is set to reprise her role in a Young Sheldon follow-up series in the fall.

"I can't wait for what's next, but I definitely want to give [Young] Sheldon its due," the actress said in a recent interview with PEOPLE. "The finale is going to truly break your heart. Make sure you're sitting down and you have Kleenex."

The sitcom has followed the early life of titular child prodigy Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons on Big Bang and Iain Armitage on Young Sheldon, since 2017. CBS announced in November that the popular prequel would conclude its run with its seventh season.

While Osment didn't divulge further details about the finale, her costar Armitage recently teased that "it very much comes full-circle, and I think we are trying to do our best to satisfy both fans of our show and Big Bang, and it's been so much fun to film."

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His onscreen mom, Zoe Perry, added that longtime fans can expect to spot "fun little" nods and Easter eggs in the episode as well. "I think what you could always expect from the show is obviously the levity, the humor, but also a lot of heart," she said. "So I think people will be really moved by the ending of this. It's a big chapter closed."

However, the book isn't closing on the Big Bang universe for everyone. Osment's Young Sheldon stint was initially for just one episode in season 5, but it quickly became much more, with her returning as a series regular in season 6. Her character has become something of a fan favorite, and accordingly she and Georgie (Montana Jordan) are getting their own spinoff show, Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage, which starts shooting this summer.

Plot details are scant at the moment, but Osment told PEOPLE last month that she had a few ideas for where her character could go from here. "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," she said. "I think that's such a tremendous thing for mothers to also be working, and I can't wait to see what they do with that."

In addition to Osment, Armitage, and Perry, Young Sheldon stars Raegan Revord, Annie Potts, and Lance Barber. The two-part series finale airs Thursday, May 16, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.