Melissa Rauch has become the latest original The Big Bang Theory star to return in HBO Max’s multiverse spinoff Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, reprising Bernadette Rostenkowski in a version of the character that swaps microbiology for magic.
Helmed by The Big Bang Theory co-creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady alongside screenwriter Zak Penn, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe picks up after the original sitcom but trades Pasadena apartment blocks for a multiverse adventure.
The series follows comic book shop owner Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman), who accidentally triggers a multiverse Armageddon after breaking a device built by Sheldon Cooper and Leonard Hofstadter, forcing him, girlfriend Denise (Lauren Lapkus), geologist Bert Kibbler (Brian Posehn), and physicist Barry Kripke (John Ross Bowie) to travel between alternate realities and encounter different versions of familiar Big Bang Theory characters.
Spoilers for the third episode below
Rauch’s appearance comes in the third episode of the series, after viewers saw Kaley Cuoco return as an alternate Penny in Episode 2 and Kunal Nayyar appear as an alternate Raj Koothrappali in the premiere.
Titled Spoiler: Bert Is Magic, episode 3 takes Stuart and Barry to a universe where magic has replaced science. Hoping to repair their malfunctioning reality-hopping machine, the pair seek out Bernadette, now a celebrated sorceress who explains that she has lost her powers after being expelled from the “Wizards Guild of America”.
The fictional guild serves as a parody of the Writers Guild of America, which held a 148-day strike in 2023 that brought much of Hollywood to a standstill before securing a new contract with higher minimum pay, improved streaming residuals, and landmark AI protections for writers.
Bernadette claims she was expelled from the guild for resurrecting a neighbour’s rescue dog, Chocolate Chip, during the industrial action, quipping that the strike was over “better dental, residuals for eternal spells”, and ended with members receiving little more than “a handful of magic beans”.
Co-creators Lorre, Prady, and Penn all admitted they held different views on its underlying message. “We have different opinions on this issue,” Penn told Deadline. “The joke, it can’t be pro-WGA and still be funny.”
He added that Bernadette’s complaints should not be taken at face value and “the WGA rep is right because she is a demon.”
At the end of the episode, Wil Wheaton, once again playing an alternate version of himself, warns Stuart not to trust Bernadette. After Bert defeats Wheaton in a magical duel, Bernadette completes her spell and transforms into a giant demon who towers over Pasadena before pursuing Stuart and his companions.
Rauch said Lorre pitched the role as “a different version of Bernadette” unlike anything she had played before. “It was just so wonderful to not only be able to step back into Bernadette’s sensible loafers and her glasses, but then to be able to have this new layer to Bernadette,” she told Variety. “There’s always been this edge to Bernadette. So the fact that they then cranked that up a million notches, and now she’s also a demon, just tickled me.”
Originally airing on CBS from 2007 to 2019, The Big Bang Theory became one of television’s defining sitcoms, running for 12 seasons and 279 episodes. Created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, it followed a tight-knit group of scientists and their friends in Pasadena, California, charting their careers, romances, and unlikely friendships while turning Jim Parsons, Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, Nayyar, Rauch, and Mayim Bialik into household names.
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe airs Thursdays at 9pm ET on HBO Max.
