‘Stuart Fails To Save The Universe’ EPs Talk Ep 2, Kaley Cuoco return

SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about Episode 2 of HBO Max’s Stuart Fails To Save the Universe.

As Stuart Fails To Save the Universe revealed in the Episode 2 opening credits spoiler (You can read all about the show’s unique, ever-changing main title sequence here), “Zack is in this one.”

Zack, a recurring character on The Big Bang Theory played by Brian Thomas Smith, was Penny’s (Kaley Cuoco) dim-witted but kind-hearted on- and off- boyfriend while she and Leonard (Johnny Galecki) were broken up.

Stuart Fails To Save the Universe, from The Big Bang Theory creators Chuck Lorre & Bill Prady and Zak Penn, has established a pattern with the first two episodes, each featuring a surprise return of a Big Bang Theory original cast member. Following Kunal Nayyar’s appearance as Raj in Episode 1 where he is shockingly killed by Kripke (John Ross Bowie), Cuoco showed up in the second episode alongside Zack (Smith). In it, Penny is a leader of the resistance against an AI-imposed mind control in an alternate universe where everyone is forced to be perpetually nice and happy by shock-inducing buttons on their necks. Zack is her second in command.

Multiverse and all, why did the Stuart Fails To Save the Universe creators opt to have Penny be with Zack as if her relationship with Leonard — one of the hallmarks of The Big Bang Theory from the pilot — never happened?

“Because that’s what happened in that universe, we don’t know what Leonard is doing in that universe,” Prady said. “Every universe gives every character a completely different history. There’s no continuity because they lived a different life, they lived in a different world. That Penny lives in a world where an evil AI controls people through shock collars, and so she had a completely different experience.”

Added Lorre, “There was no Cheesecake Factory in her life,” a reference to Penny’s place of work for most of Big Bang‘s run.

Stuart Fails To Save the Universe presents a very different version of Penny who is pretty ruthless, violently slapping Stuart (Kevin Sussman), Bert (Brian Posehn) and Kripke (John Ross Bowie) to “deprogram” them and ordering them killed with no hesitation once she realizes that they don’t know how to defeat the AI overlord. The trio are ultimately saved by a drone attack launched by the AI, with Penny, Zack and the rest getting incapacitated while Stuart, Bert, Kripke, along with Denise (Lauren Lapkus), use Leonard and Sheldon’s machine to transport themselves to another universe.

With Raj teetering on the edge of madness in Season 1, are Big Bang OGs relishing going dark in the spinoff?

“Beyond,” Prady said.

Added Lorre, “Beyond. It was fun to do something different, that was part of the promise, come and play with us, and we’ll make sure that you’re playing a version of your character you never got to play before, an entirely different approach to the character, and that was fun for the actors.”

Said Penn, “And everyone wants to play the bad guy, that’s always the most fun role.”

Episode 2 also includes appearances from The Big Bang Theory‘s Christine Baranski and Riki Lindhome.

Baranski, who played Leonard’s mom Beverly on the mothership series, is the host of the 30-month re-education program Stuart, Bert are Kripke are forced to attend as a version of herself. (Interestingly, neither Stuart nor Bert or Kripke reacted to her uncanny resemblance to their friend’s mother.)

Lindhome, who did only three but memorable guest appearances on Big Bang as Ramona Nowitzkis, an obsessive CalTech graduate student, plays a version of the same character who is now a receptionist from hell at her alma mater.