The Big Bang Theory fans who watch Stuart Fails to Save the Universe will notice some major plot holes.
During an exclusive interview with Us, creators Chuck Lorre, Zak Penn and Bill Prady revealed they purposely introduced story lines that didn’t make any sense throughout the first season of the spinoff.
“We were always completely on top of it,” Penn joked. “Each morning we would get together and go over this big chart.”
Lorre clarified that they were actually “clueless” about the big picture, adding, “We were absolutely in a dark room trying to figure out the elephant.”
Penn credited Prady for having a “better sense” of how the story flowed. Prady, for his part, noted that only one aspect of the show was — nearly — airtight.
“I kept track of one thing, which was the loop,” he added. “And it’s not 100 percent right but it’s close enough.”
While speaking to Us, Penn argued that they wanted to have plot holes, saying, “If they don’t then we didn’t do our job.” Prady jumped in to point out that the characters at the center of the HBO Max show “notice them along the way” as well.
Lorre, meanwhile, argued that shouldn’t be what the audience searches for.
“Ultimately, if you’re looking for plot loopholes and you’re not laughing, we failed,” he continued.
According to the official synopsis, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe follows Stuart Bloom 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.”
Stuart “is aided in this quest by his girlfriend Denise, geologist friend Bert and quantum physicist/all-around pain in the ass Barry Kripke. Along the way, they meet alternate-universe versions of characters we’ve come to know and love from The Big Bang Theory. As the title implies, things don’t go well.”
Stuart (Kevin Sussman) was originally introduced on The Big Bang Theory, which aired on CBS from 2007 to 2019. The show starred Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch as a group of best friend scientists and their — sometimes polar opposite — significant others.
The Big Bang Theory won 10 Emmy Awards during its 12-season run and spawned the prequel series, Young Sheldon, a.k.a the follow-up focused on Sheldon’s life (Iain Armitage) as a child prodigy.
Viewers then met Sheldon’s brother, Georgie (Montana Jordan), which paved the way for his love story with Mandy (Emily Osment) to inspire another spinoff, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage. Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, meanwhile, is led by Sussman, Brian Posehn, John Ross Bowie and Lauren Lapkus.
“For me, Stuart came back to me pretty quickly,” Sussman told Us. “Because the original Stuart was sadly not too different than me. So it was pretty much the same.”
He continued: “Stuart has never really been a character where I’ve thought, ‘OK, who is this guy?’ It’s always just been about, ‘What are these circumstances now?’ So less about who I am and more about how do I navigate all this craziness that’s happening.”
New episodes of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe air Thursdays on HBO Max.
