What would our television landscape be withoutThe Big Bang Theory? The comedic juggernaut and its various spinoffs have dominated TV since 2007. While the network spinoffs (Young SheldonandGeorgie & Mandy) have explored the past, HBO Max’s take will send us into the future.Stuart Fails to Save the Universewill bring back fan favorites from the original series, including Kevin Sussman’s titular Stuart, Lauren Lapkus' Denise, John Ross Bowie’s Barry Kripke, and Brian Posehn’s Bert. But this newest entry also representsradically different territoryfor the franchise: pure sci-fi/fantasy.
With multiverses and alternate versions of stars fromthe original series,Stuart Fails to Save the Universeis really swinging for the fences here. But is this supposed to be considered a canon storyline? At its core,The Big Bang Theoryis not a fantasy show. The characters love science and comic books, but the storylines themselves are all based in reality. The same goes forYoung SheldonandGeorgie & Mandy. So isStuarta daring new creative vision, or a desperate jumping-the-shark moment from an overstuffed franchise? Well,there is a way the show can incorporate this new theme while still preserving what we loved from the original. Will it go that route?
The Plot of ‘Stuart Fails to Save the Universe’
It’s a Unique Entry in the ‘Big Bang Theory’ Franchise
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe(really rolls right off the tongue) was first ordered in April 2023, and remained in development for two years. It was officially ordered to series for HBO Max in July 2025, with Sussman, Lapkus, Bowie, and Posehn all set to return.The official logline reads:
“Comic book store owner Stuart Bloom (Sussman) is tasked with restoring reality after he breaks a device built by Sheldon and Leonard, accidentally bringing about a multiverse Armageddon. Stuart is aided in this quest by his girlfriend Denise (Lapkus), geologist friend Bert (Posehn), and quantum physicist/all-around pain in the ass Barry Kripke (Bowie). Along the way, they meet alternate-universe versions of characters we’ve come to know and love from ‘The Big Bang Theory.’ As the title implies, things don’t go well.”
Stuart Fails to Save the Universeis set in the future, after the events ofThe Big Bang Theory. Sheldon and Leonard will have some roles in the new storylines, as it’s their creation that seems to set everything in motion. We already know thatStuartwillrely heavily on CGI, which will likely be used to create the alternate universes. From the logline alone, we can tell that this will be unlike anything theBig Bangfranchise has attempted before.
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There were some brief fantasy elements in the original andYoung Sheldon, but nothing was ever canon.Stuartclearly wants the fantasy to be the focal point, as it’s mentioned in the logline’s first sentence. Will audiences respond well to this? And how far can our suspension of disbelief be pushed?
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The Big Bang Theoryrequired very little suspending of disbelief. The core cast consisted of a group of friends who lived in California and were passionate about science and superheroes.Young Sheldoncontinued this trend with its focus on wholesome family values in rural Texas, similar to those inGeorgie & Mandy. It was all set in the real world. Imagine being a first-timeBig Bang Theoryfranchise viewer who got intoGeorgie & Mandy.
Seems like a by-the-numbers ’90s-set sitcom, right?Now imagine that the brother of the title star grows up to build a multiverse device that tears apart the fabric of reality. A little hard to believe. So isStuartexpecting its audience, even the day 1Big Bangfans, to take this seriously? Multiverses aren’t something that’s part of the conventional network sitcom world, and the franchise has never hinted that it wants to have that type of show. Could someone like Sheldon build a device like that? Perhaps, though not in our lifetimes.
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But what if it was all made up?Stuart owns a comic book store, so what if this series is all just some story he’s writing? The show can still show all the alternate world CGI it wants, but with the expectation that it’s all inside Stuart’s mind. That makes more sense than trying to introduce these concepts into a traditional sitcom world canonically.Stuart could talk to Howardor Raj, after which we could see their alternate selves within his story.Perhaps Sheldon and Leonard stop by to discuss a hypothetical multiverse device, which then becomes the central focus of his story. If they wanted to go super meta, how about Stuart creating a show about himself and these alternate universes titledStuart Fails to Save the Universe?Show-within-a-show anyone?
Now this would mean that there are no real stakes if everything is inside Stuart’s mind. But it could be fun forBig Bangto explore pure fantasy without asking us to suspend disbelief. And seeing the return of OG stars is always a plus. Fans who loved thescience and “nerd humor"element of the original may return, along with new fans who come with the wider streaming platform.
Treating this fantasy route as a comic book or show-within-a-show is the way to go. Acting as if these elements are canon goings-on in theBig Bangsphere could be seen as a jumping-the-shark moment that defies the established laws of the universe. In any case, the number of multiverses will almost certainly be fewer than the number of HBO Max name changes.StreamThe Big Bang TheoryonHBO Max.
