‘Stuart Fails To Save The Universe’ Stars Kevin Sussman & Lauren Lapkus Talk Sci-Fi ‘Big Bang’ Spinoff With “Reluctant…

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

Seven 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 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.

The development came as a surprise to Sussman.

“I just want health insurance, I’ve always just wanted to work, so this was not on my bingo card; I was not expecting this,” he said about headlining a Big Bang offshoot.

Even more shocked was fellow Stuart Fails To Save the Universe lead Lauren Lapkus, who had recurred on the last two seasons of Big Bang as the quirky assistant manager at Stuart’s comic book store and subsequently his girlfriend.

“I was so grateful to have joined the show at the last two seasons, it was really, really fun,” she said of the mothership. “Shows 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’t expect it to come back around at all. And it’s funny, like it never even crossed my mind. Even with the other spinoffs of Big Bang Theory, I just was like, that’s cool, you just don’t think it’s going to happen for your character. It’s really wild. So, it was completely unexpected and very welcomed by me.” (You can watch the video below.)

Stuart Fails To Save the Universe is the third Big Bang spinoff, following Young Sheldon and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, both on CBS.

In the trailer, which you can watch at the bottom of the story, Stuart references his task of saving the universe and him being “the chosen one.” However, to paraphrase the famous Spider-Man line, he has great responsibility but no powers.

“Yeah, 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’s always in a state of panic,” Sussman said. “And now the circumstances match his natural state of panic. So, in a way, he’s a reluctant hero; he doesn’t want to be doing this, but in a certain way, he’s been leading towards this. I think that’s probably more profound than Chuck and Bill and Zak were even intending.”

The 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?

“From a character perspective, it wasn’t that difficult because I just approached it as two different scenes, I learned them separately,” Sussman said. “It was difficult technically, though, because either you’re talking to just, there’s no one there, or there’s a stand-in or something like that. That was one of the many weird, special effects-type of things that I’ve never had to do before. So, the technical aspect was difficult, but as an acting thing, it was actually fun.”

In the trailer, we also see the “meet cute” between Stuart and Denise in post-apocalyptic Pasadena where she is a badass who makes a living robbing people.

“It’s a really fun way to get to reintroduce them because she’s got this whole other life, and so does he,” Lapkus said. “They’ve been on this crazy journey, just living in this terrible world. So when they come back together, I think they’re both delighted to see each other, but they also have these separate journeys they’re on, so they’re not immediately like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna team-up.’ I really liked that first scene that we have where we meet each other and get to have, like, ‘Oh yeah, great to see you! Well, my life is insane, it literally is.'”

Added Sussman, “It literally is like exes meeting at a party or something, and they’ve carried a flame for each other, except here there’s giant moths flying overhead.”

Was the romance pitched to Lapkus right off the bat?

“It 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’s a nice component,” she said.

Added Sussman, “At the end of the original series, Stuart finally gets this girl, and it’s 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’s more of an intimacy there, and the relationship develops in a way that it couldn’t have on a traditional multi-cam.”

On 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.

“I enjoyed that,” Lapkus said. “She’s 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’s a good balance.”

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe premieres on HBO Max July 23 with episodes released weekly.