Before her two-episode stint in The Big Bang Theory‘s newest spinoff, Mayim Bialik recalled reading comments hoping her character wouldn’t appear on Stuart Fails to Save the Universe.
“I’ve had a very, very positive relationship of being accepted into the larger Big Bang Theory community. The funniest thing was when it was announced that Stuart was coming back and that some of The Big Bang Theory characters might make an appearance,” Bialik, 50, recalled in an exclusive interview with Us. “I would text Melissa [Rauch] because sometimes I would read the comment sections and it was like, ‘Please God, let it not be Amy.’ Or other ones would be like, ‘Please God, let it not be … .’”
Bialik, who portrayed Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler on the hit sitcom Big Bang Theory, didn’t take it to heart.
“Everyone had their preference of who they didn’t want to see on Stuart Fails to Save the Universe and so I just got a good laugh out of that,” she shared. “Like you cannot please all of the audience any of the time. Hopefully, people who were happy to see at least these characters come back — hopefully they were pleased with this season.”
The Big Bang Theory aired from 2007 to 2019 and starred Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Bialik and Rauch, 46, as a group of friends made up of scientists and their significant others. During its run, the CBS comedy won 10 Emmy Awards and spawned prequel shows Young Sheldon and Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage.
Since joining the show as Amy in 2010, Bialik reprised the role in Young Sheldon and now in Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, which follows Stuart (Kevin Sussman) as he is faced with the daunting task of “restoring reality after he breaks a device built by Sheldon and Leonard, accidentally bringing about a multiverse Armageddon,” according to the official synopsis.
“There had obviously been a lot of buzz around the show and the Chuck Lorre world is notoriously private, which I think you know makes it all the more fun when I found out what was happening. There had been whispers [about me returning],” the actress recalled about the process of joining the show. “These were things that were floating in the ether but everyone was pretty tight-lipped about it.”
Bialik was more than happy just as a fan of the show.
“I was mostly just excited for them,” she noted. “The fact that I got asked to be part of it was really, really special. Honestly I would have been happy to do anything to be involved and to be supportive. The fact that I got to create these different versions of Amy in this multiverse was kind of a bonus.”
She added: “It’s nice not to be asked to have to recreate the job you had when you were 35. So it’s also nice that there is some flexibility in the identity that we got to create.”
Earlier in the season, Bialik played a version of Amy who existed in Stuart’s subconscious as a therapist manifested in one of the many universes he explored. The Thursday, September 17, episode of the HBO Max show brought Bialik back as another version who is married to The Flash.
“I don’t know if there’s a larger storytelling plan but it was a lot of fun,” she recalled. “Stuart lends itself to the ability to have all of this sweetness sprinkled in throughout the season.”
Looking ahead, Bialik, who also hosts the “Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown” podcast didn’t rule out more guest spots, adding, “I love working on my podcast and continuing to raise my children. But this is a universe that I’m very very happy to be part of. I’d be up for anything.”
New episodes of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe air Thursdays on HBO Max.
