{"id":765141,"date":"2026-07-15T22:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T22:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/765141\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T22:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T22:35:14","slug":"stuart-stars-lapkus-sussman-talk-big-bang-theory-spinoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/765141\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Stuart’ Stars Lapkus & Sussman Talk ‘Big Bang Theory’ Spinoff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tKevin Sussman<\/a>\u2019s kind-hearted Stuart was a perfect supporting character on The Big Bang Theory<\/a>. Introduced in Season 2, he quickly became a fan favorite and stayed on throughout the CBS sitcom\u2019s run, initially as a recurring before becoming a series regular Seasons 8-12 (as well as part of Season 6).<\/p>\n

\n\tSeven years later, Stuart is entering the spotlight as the lead of his own series, the Big Bang single-camera spinoff Stuart Fails To Save the Universe<\/a> on HBO Max, in which he is tasked with restoring reality after he breaks a device built by Sheldon and Leonard, accidentally bringing about a multiverse Armageddon.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe development came as a surprise to Sussman.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI just want health insurance, I\u2019ve always just wanted to work, so this was not on my bingo card; I was not expecting this,\u201d he said about headlining a Big Bang offshoot.<\/p>\n

\n\tEven more shocked was fellow Stuart Fails To Save the Universe lead Lauren Lapkus<\/a>, who had recurred on the last two seasons of Big Bang as the quirky assistant manager at Stuart\u2019s comic book store and subsequently his girlfriend.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was so grateful to have joined the show at the last two seasons, it was really, really fun,\u201d she said of the mothership. \u201cShows end, and you just move on as an actor, you have to find your next job and get your insurance, as Kevin was saying. So, I didn\u2019t expect it to come back around at all. And it\u2019s funny, like it never even crossed my mind. Even with the other spinoffs of Big Bang Theory, I just was like, that\u2019s cool, you just don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to happen for your character. It\u2019s really wild. So, it was completely unexpected and very welcomed by me.\u201d (You can watch the video below.)<\/p>\n

\n\tStuart Fails To Save the Universe is the third Big Bang spinoff, following Young Sheldon and Georgie & Mandy\u2019s First Marriage, both on CBS.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the trailer, which you can watch at the bottom of the story, Stuart references his task of saving the universe and him being \u201cthe chosen one.\u201d However, to paraphrase the famous Spider-Man line, he has great responsibility but no powers.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYeah, exactly. It parallels Stuart from the original show. He already is barely getting by in The Big Bang Theory, just trying to operate a successful comic book store, and he\u2019s always in a state of panic,\u201d Sussman said. \u201cAnd now the circumstances match his natural state of panic. So, in a way, he\u2019s a reluctant hero; he doesn\u2019t want to be doing this, but in a certain way, he\u2019s been leading towards this. I think that\u2019s probably more profound than Chuck and Bill and Zak were even intending.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe trailer also shows an alternate Stuart from another universe giving him instruction on how to prevent the apocalypse. How was it for Sussman to act alongside himself?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFrom a character perspective, it wasn\u2019t that difficult because I just approached it as two different scenes, I learned them separately,\u201d Sussman said. \u201cIt was difficult technically, though, because either you\u2019re talking to just, there\u2019s no one there, or there\u2019s a stand-in or something like that. That was one of the many weird, special effects-type of things that I\u2019ve never had to do before. So, the technical aspect was difficult, but as an acting thing, it was actually fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the trailer, we also see the \u201cmeet cute\u201d between Stuart and Denise in post-apocalyptic Pasadena where she is a badass who makes a living robbing people.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a really fun way to get to reintroduce them because she\u2019s got this whole other life, and so does he,\u201d Lapkus said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been on this crazy journey, just living in this terrible world. So when they come back together, I think they\u2019re both delighted to see each other, but they also have these separate journeys they\u2019re on, so they\u2019re not immediately like, \u2018Oh, we\u2019re gonna team-up.\u2019 I really liked that first scene that we have where we meet each other and get to have, like, \u2018Oh yeah, great to see you! Well, my life is insane, it literally is.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAdded Sussman, \u201cIt literally is like exes meeting at a party or something, and they\u2019ve carried a flame for each other, except here there\u2019s giant moths flying overhead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWas the romance pitched to Lapkus right off the bat?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was really pitched as like a sort of sci-fi comedy and just letting these characters go into these insane worlds; I think the romance naturally builds between these characters as the story is being told, so it\u2019s a nice component,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tAdded Sussman, \u201cAt the end of the original series, Stuart finally gets this girl, and it\u2019s an actually good, healthy relationship. And then the show ended unexpectedly, which is the most Stuart thing to happen. But it actually wound up great because, now that this is single-cam as opposed to shot in front of a live audience, there\u2019s more of an intimacy there, and the relationship develops in a way that it couldn\u2019t have on a traditional multi-cam.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Stuart Fails To Save the Universe, Denise is the girl in the group, alongside Stuart (Sussman), Bert (Brian Posehn) and Kripke (John Ross Bowie), who sometimes needs to talk some sense into them.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI enjoyed that,\u201d Lapkus said. \u201cShe\u2019s very logical and can go like, hey, can we focus on the task at hand, which you definitely need, because I think the three of them would be floating in outer space without someone to ground them, and yeah, feminine energy is always important. It\u2019s a good balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStuart Fails to Save the Universe premieres on HBO Max July 23 with episodes released weekly.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kevin Sussman\u2019s kind-hearted Stuart was a perfect supporting character on The Big Bang Theory. Introduced in Season 2,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":765142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,142764,264476,240408,44061,92],"class_list":["post-765141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-kevin-sussman","tag-lauren-lapkus","tag-stuart-fails-to-save-the-universe","tag-the-big-bang-theory","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}