Originally appeared on E! Online
“The Big Bang Theory” universe is expanding once more.
A new spinoff of the long-running sitcom, which followed physicists Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) and Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki) as well as their circle of friends, has been ordered to series at HBO Max, the network confirmed in a July 9 press release.
The project — titled “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” — marks the fourth series in the TV franchise, which also includes “Young Sheldon” and “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.” This time, the plot would focus on the hijinks of Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman), an acquaintance who became increasingly prominent in “The Big Bang Theory’s” later seasons.
“Comic book store owner Stuart Bloom is tasked with restoring reality after he breaks a device built by Sheldon and Leonard,” the release read, “accidentally bringing about a multiverse Armageddon.”
Notably, the release also teased appearances by “alternate-universe versions of characters” from the original series — which aired on CBS from 2007 to 2019 — but warned that “as the title implies, things don’t go well.”
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In addition to Sussman, Lauren Lapkus, Brian Posehn and John Ross Bowie, all of whom recurred on the flagship series, are reprising their roles for the new show. Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time a fan favorite from “The Big Bang Theory” returned to the small screen.
In May 2024, Parsons appeared in character alongside Mayim Bialik, who played his wife Amy Farrah Fowler in the original series, during the series finale of Young Sheldon after serving as narrator throughout the show’s seven-season run.
“It was very, very special to do that,” he told E! News at the time. “You shoot that final episode and it’s wrapped for you. Then a couple of months later, it wraps for the rest of the world and it’s a very weird feeling to flood over you again like that.”
But the Emmy winner cautioned fans not to get their hopes up for more Sheldon going forward.
“Never say never to anything,” he said. “Life is long, God willing. But I don’t think so.”
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Kate Micucci is giving fans a positive health update.
