I don’t think that, in late 2007, anyone could have guessed that The Big Bang Theory (which had just debuted on CBS) would turn into a mega-hit or eventually become the comedy gift that just keeps on giving nearly 20 years after its premiere. That 12-season series was spun off into another long-running hit, Young Sheldon, as well as that show’s own spinoff, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage. Yet another series based in the same universe, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, is set to debut soon and iconic producer Chuck Lorre thinks it’ll either be “revered or reviled.”
Why Chuck Lorre Thinks Stuart Fails To Save The Universe Is A ‘Big Swing’
Chuck Lorre has been turning out hits for so long that it can be hard to remember a time when he didn’t have a beloved comedy on the air. It’s also difficult to imagine a future without at least one of his shows racking up fans, which is hopefully what the upcoming Big Bang Theory spinoff, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, will do when it debuts for those with an HBO Max subscription sometime later on the 2026 TV schedule.
The sitcom creator already previously said that his desire for Stuart was to “do something radical,” but in speaking with People recently he admitted that he’s not sure what TBBT fandom will think of it, and noted:
I think it will be revered or reviled. I'm not sure which.
Those are two very strong and opposing takes, for sure. Why does Lorre feel this way? Well, the new comedy is definitely different from the creator’s other projects in a big way, in that there’s a sci-fi element that’s not usually present.
The story focuses on Kevin Sussman’s recurring TBBT character, Stuart Bloom (along with other returning characters), after he gets his hands on a device made by Sheldon and Leonard and breaks it, which leads to him “accidentally bringing about a multiverse Armageddon.” This means that he has to break out of his comic-book-store comfort zone and put reality as we know it to rights. Lorre continued:
I'm doing something right now for HBO Max called Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, and it's a science fiction action-adventure comedy. We just finished principal photography and I'm pretty excited about it. It's a big swing.
“A big swing” indeed! While comedy has been his bread and butter forever, he’s also never really delivered a show that’s high on the action/adventure scale, so not only will this be a rather radical concept for a comedy without superheroes, but it’s also new for him.
Look, it’s hard to say right now how Stuart Fails to Save the Universe will be received when it debuts. But, with the wild premise of this show, and several actors who helped fill out the world on TBBT returning to their recognizable characters for it, my guess is that it already has a leg up on the competition when it comes to viewers like me being intrigued by it, so know that we can’t wait to see the finished product.
