The Big Bang Theory has become like a tree with many branches. Across twelve seasons and over 275 episodes, that’s a major foundation for a sitcom, and the series has used that well. To date, two prequel shows have been released with Young Sheldon and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, and now an actual sequel series has arrived. Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, which premieres today on HBO Max, not only acts as a follow-up to The Big Bang Theory, but brings back a lot of familiar faces that fans know and love, like Kevin Sussman as the titular Stuart Bloom and Lauren Lapkus as Denise.
Given the drastic change in tone for the series compared to The Big Bang Theory, it’s no surprise that these familiar characters have to go through some different developments than in a standard sitcom. Speaking with ComicBook about that topic, Lapkus and Sussman revealed what makes it so different from the original.
“I think to some extent it’s built into the scripts because every situation we’re in is so extreme that there’s a layering of her personality that just happens from each episode,” Lapkus said about Denise’s growth in the new show. “I really loved, I loved the variety. I loved how surprising each week is as a viewer, but also just getting to do it, of course, was so much fun. I think with the way that character existed on The Big Bang Theory, as you do with any multicam, you kind of play within a certain tone and world and then getting to bring her out into the world and be like, you can have an opinion on anything and you can have a reaction and you can be taking charge and whatever. All these things that happen, it’s just super exciting.”
Sussman noted that things were even more different for Stuart as the title character. “I think Stuart is tasked with he’s got this heavy burden on him,” the star revealed. “So, as a character arc, he’s sort of always felt that way, even in the original show, like he’s always just hanging on by a thread. And now he’s in a world where the circumstances actually really match that because if he screws this up, it’s the end of the universe.”
He continued, “But that said, I think one of the fun things about it is that he doesn’t change that much. He’s still a reluctant hero. It’s still Stuart. It’s just Stuart is being forced, because of just absolute necessity, to take on like sort of a leadership role.”
For Brian Posehn, who returns as Bert Kibbler for the show, he jokingly added, “I think I probably did more running in episode one of this show than I did in 11 seasons of Big Bang.”
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe will premiere its first episode this Thursday, July 23 on HBO Max, with new episodes every Thursday up through the season finale on September 24, 2026.
