The Big Bang Theory is expanding its universe once again with a new spinoff, and there’s now a first teaser trailer for HBO Max’s Stuart Fails to Save the Universe. The main show may have ended back in 2019, but the franchise as a whole has continued going strong on CBS. First, there was Young Sheldon, and then that got its own spinoff in the form of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage (which is still ongoing). But whereas both of those were prequels to TBBT, the next series will be the first-ever sequel.
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe puts the focus on comic book shop owner Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman), and while The Big Bang Theory loved to talk Sci-Fi, this will actually be doing it: the show follows him as he has to fix reality after breaking a device built by Sheldon and Leonard Hofstadter, which causes a multiversal armageddon. Helping him are several other returning characters from TBBT, including Bert Kibbler (Brian Posehn), Denise (Lauren Lapkus), and Barry Kripke (John Ross Bowie). The first trailer gives us a good idea of how well that’s going to go, along with its mix of Sci-Fi and comedy – check it out below:
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It’s clearly having a lot of fun with its multiversal premise. We see an alternate version of Stuart come to inform the one from TBBT‘s universe that he can save things, as well as things like another Kripke who is now established as the Supreme Ruler. There’s technically even a glimpse of Sheldon, Leonard, and Howard Wolowitz, as they appear in a comic book of the story we’re watching.
Stuart Fails To Save The Universe Breaks New Ground For The Big Bang Theory Franchise
Image via HBO Max
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe has a lot of the same ingredients as the other Big Bang Theory shows: Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady are once again the creators, alongside Zak Penn (who has a long Sci-Fi history), and as mentioned, several returning cast members. But it’s also very different from anything else we’ve seen in the other spinoffs so far.
For starters, there’s that Sci-Fi element. That’s a major change to the rules of the franchise, opening up its multiverse and breaking down what we thought the reality of the series was, which gives this even more freedom to play around with things and explore different concepts.
There’s also the fact that this is the first show set after The Big Bang Theory (not including Young Sheldon‘s cameos from the future), the first to shift its focus away from at least one of the Cooper family, and also the first to release on HBO Max rather than CBS. It also looks surprisingly action-packed, something we’ve not seen before, and has variants of several characters.
Image via HBO Max
That all makes it more exciting as, while it’s bringing some characters back, it should mean it feels really fresh, and avoids repeating the formula of the previous shows. While that’s undoubtedly worked, it’s good to mix it up, and it can help Stuart Fails to Save the Universe forge its own path and stand apart from its predecessors.
The trailer does a good job of selling us on this, with a mix of the familiar and the new that will be crucial to this working as its own thing while still appealing to long-time fans, and it looks like it’s getting things just right. Stuart might fail to save the universe, but it looks like the show will do a good job of keeping The Big Bang Theory‘s universe going.
