{"id":802357,"date":"2026-07-15T18:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T18:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/802357\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T18:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T18:44:13","slug":"stuart-fails-to-save-the-universe-how-bbt-spinoff-came-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/802357\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Stuart Fails To Save The Universe’: How ‘BBT’ Spinoff Came Together"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Big Bang Theory<\/a> fans may owe a debt of gratitude for spinoff Stuart Fails To Save the Universe<\/a> to the 2011 superhero series Alphas<\/a>, which ran on Syfy for two years.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt has to do with the strange bedfellows team-up of The Big Bang Theory creators (and sitcom veterans) Chuck Lorre<\/a> and Bill Prady<\/a> with feature writer Zak Penn<\/a> to create the offshoot. Penn does not have any TV comedy experience but he has a strong genre background, including in comic book-based features with his work on the X-Men, Hulk and The Avengers movies.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe idea for the proposed BBT spinoff, announced by HBO Max<\/a> in early 2023 with Lorre at the helm, started with him and Penn whose only prior TV experience had been co-creating Syfy\u2019s Alphas and creating Spectrum Originals\u2019 Beacon 23.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was a big fan of Alphas, which I loved,\u201d Lorre said. \u201cI just loved that series, and so when I met Zak, I kind of went fanboy on his ass. I later learned about all his motion picture experience and credits, and so when it came time to try and discuss how to do Stuart Fails To Save the Universe in an action adventure genre, I called and said, \u2018Can you help me?’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd I said \u2018yes\u2019 for a lot of reasons,\u201d Penn added. \u201cFirst of all, I felt like I owed Chuck one from the Alphas shoutout that he gave on Big Bang Theory, but also it was a really cool idea based on a beloved show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Alphas shoutout came in the form of a main plot line in the Season 6, Episode 21 Big Bang episode, titled \u201cThe Closure Alternative,\u201d in which Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) is devastated that Syfy had canceled the show on a cliffhanger and tries to get closure by finding out what would\u2019ve happened. Additionally, Alphas star Ryan Cartwright guest starred on Big Bang earlier that season.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI always try to do different things,\u201d Penn continued. \u201cI get kind of pegged for doing superhero stuff, but I\u2019ve done a lot of different types of movies. I don\u2019t think I would have said yes; if Chuck\u2019d said, \u2018Come help us create a spin-off sitcom, I would have been like, I\u2019m going to be useless because it\u2019s a different skill set. But based on what Chuck was pitching me and the scope of it, I thought, hey, I could actually be helpful here.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tPenn is not the only Alphas connection on Stuart Fails To Save the Universe. There are only a couple of major new characters on the offshoot not from the original series, and one of them is played by Cartwright. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe crucial last piece that got the spinoff over the hump was Prady coming on board. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe spent two years going around in circles during Covid, having really wonderful lunches together, but not really making any progress until we brought this guy in,\u201d Lorre said, pointing to him. \u201cHe cracked it open, and we started writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLike Penn, Lorre also is going outside of his comfort zone with Stuart Fails To Save the Universe. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s hard work sitting and writing these things. It\u2019s hard work, but this whole opportunity allowed for me to try things I\u2019d never gotten an opportunity to try before, to try storytelling in ways I\u2019ve never been able to do before, and also always, can it be funny?,\u201d said Lorre, known for a slew of comedy hits, from Cybill andDharma & Greg to Two and a Half Men and the Big Bang Theory franchise. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason to watch this if you\u2019re yearning to see a dark drama, this will let you down. If you want to see a comedy with all the special effects and some of the R-rated elements and whatnot, if it\u2019s truly funny, it\u2019s it\u2019s worth it\u2019s worth giving it a try.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Lorre wrote in one of his vanity cards on the show, \u201cGo Crazy or go home. I din\u2019t go home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStuart Fails to Save the Universe premieres on HBO Max July 23 with episodes released weekly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Big Bang Theory fans may owe a debt of gratitude for spinoff Stuart Fails To Save the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[376082,64,63,306620,91160,134,52644,40399,427,376083],"class_list":["post-802357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-alphas","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bill-prady","tag-chuck-lorre","tag-entertainment","tag-stuart-fails-to-save-the-universe","tag-the-big-bang-theory","tag-tv","tag-zak-penn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}