Next year, The Big Bang Theory will turn 20 years old, yet time hasn’t slowed down the juggernaut sitcom. The ten-time Emmy-winning series may have ended back in 2019 after spending 12 seasons following the antics and evolution of four socially-awkward scientist friends, but co-creator Chuck Lorre has kept the laughs rolling, between the Cooper family-centric spin-off, Young Sheldon, and the currently-ongoing offshoot of that, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage. After much anticipation, though, the franchise will finally be stepping away from the Coopers for the first time this year to focus instead on the friend group’s favorite comic book store owner.
First announced to be in development in 2023, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe has been shown to be a different beast from the other, more grounded, family-focused Big Bang spin-offs. The series dips into sci-fi action as it follows Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman) after he unwittingly brings about calamity by destroying a powerful device built by Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Leonard (Johnny Galecki). To save all reality, he’s thrust into a multiversal adventure alongside fellow Big Bang alumni, including his girlfriend Denise (Lauren Lapkus), geologist Bert (Brian Posehn), and Sheldon’s annoying rival, string theorist Barry Kripke (John Ross Bowie). Things often go horrifically wrong, as seen in a first look from last year’s HBO Max sizzle reel, where the group is about to be burned at the stake. Now, at CCXP Mexico, the first official trailer was released, teasing what other kinds of trouble Stuart will find himself in — and we’ve got the description here. Additionally, the studio dropped first-look images of the new series.
Moving to a sci-fi action premise is both odd and surprisingly fitting for the nerdy comedy series, opening up a world of possibilities for adventure. It’s also new ground for Lorre after years of making traditional sitcoms from Cybill to Two and a Half Men. He’s promised “a lot of CGI” in this more cinematic entry, something that’s reflected in the various worlds Stuart and the gang visit. Along this bizarre journey, they’ll also meet alternate-universe versions of characters Big Bang fans have come to know and love, paving the way for original stars like Parsons, Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, and more to potentially appear in some capacity.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
‘The Big Bang Theory’s Newest Spin-Off Will Give Its Leads Space to Breathe
At CCXP Mexico, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe debuted an exclusive first look. Kevin Sussman, Lauren Lapkus, Bryan Posehn, and John Ross Bowie discussed their highly awaited spin-off of the iconic The Big Bang Theory, describing the show as “four really incompetent Doctor Whos” on a multiversal adventure. The show promises far more action than ever before, including plenty of stunts, plus all the humor we have come to expect from this franchise.
The premise will see Stuart (Sussman) breaking a device built by Leonard and Sheldon, thus triggering “a multiverse Armageddon.” Stuart will then have to embark on a mission to save the multiverse alongside his girlfriend, Denise (Lapkus), and his geologist friend, Bert (Posehn), often going against the “general pain in the ass” Kripke (Bowie). The only problem is how woefully unequipped Stuart is for the task.
The exclusive scene sees Stuart, Denise, and Bert as prisoners of Barry Kripke. In this particular universe, Kripke is the Grand Caliph of Pasadena, explaining he took advantage of the power vacuum at Caltech to seize control of the resources and, of course, the girls. When Denise asks Kripke if he wants to fix things, since that universe sucks, he only mocks her. Why would he change things if he has all the girls?
The show, which will have a new theme song by none other than Danny Elfman, looks unlike anything we’ve seen from Big Bang before, with Bowie revealing they’ll even do something no one could expect: curse! So, prepare to see a very foul-mouthed Barry Kripke. Stuart Fails to Save the Universe will debut exclusively on HBO Max in July.
While the premise opens the door for so many Big Bang Theory reunions, Warner Bros. Television CEO Channing Dungey asserted last year that Stuart Fails to Save the Universe will be all about highlighting Sussman and company and their new dynamics. It does, however, promise much of the same humor that made its parent show so enduring. Lorre created the series with his partner on the sitcom that started it all, Bill Prady, alongside The Avengers co-writer Zak Penn. Further complicating matters for Stuart’s little group are fellow starsRyan Cartwright, Josh Brener, and Tommy Walker, the latter of whom plays Denise’s jaw-dropping new boyfriend.
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe premieres sometime in 2026 on HBO Max.
