Doctor Who’s core qualities may appear sooner than expected in an upcoming spinoff of another popular franchise. With no news available aboutDoctor Whoseason 16after season 15’s ending, the only confirmed Whoniverse live-action show isThe War Between the Land and Sea. However, an upcoming sitcom from another massive franchise could work as aDoctor Whoreplacement.
In an interview withScreenRant’s own Joe Deckelmeier,Stuart Fails to Save the Universe’s creator Chuck Lorre likens the upcoming sitcom toDoctor Whobecause of its sci-fi elements. Lorre explains that these makeStuart Fails to Save the Universevery different fromBig Bang TheoryandYoung Sheldon, along with it being pre-filmed and not an audience show.
ScreenRant: Chuck, you’ve got Stuart Fails to Save the Universe coming up, a Big Bang Theory spinoff centered around Kevin Sussman’s character. What inspired you to revisit Stuart, and how will that series differ from the original show and Young Sheldon?
Chuck Lorre: Well, it’s a pre-filmed show. It’s not an audience show. It’s a single-camera filmed show with a lot of science fiction elements woven into it. It’s a multiverse kind of situation, and in every episode, Stuart Bloom [Kevin’s character], Lauren Lapkus, Brian Posehn, and John Ross Bowie wind up in a different universe and have to find their way through that universe. It’s closer to Doctor Who than it is to Who’s The Boss, let me say that.
What This Means For Stuart Fails To Save The Universe & The TBBT Franchise
It Can Truly Take The TBBT Universe Where It’s Never Gone Before
Lorre explicitly saying thatStuart Fails to Save the Universeis “closer to Doctor Who” establishes how the spinoff will decidedly be a new frontier for theTBBTfranchise, with itsprotagonists living through the kinds of adventures they loved reading about inBig Bang Theory. This setsStuart Fails to Save the Universeapart from anything in the franchise.
Stuart Failsnot having an audience instead gives it more freedom to play with the genres.
Being a single-camera filmed show without an audience also highlights another substantial difference fromThe Big Bang Theory, which might have featured Stuart relatively often but still had to rely on the usualTBBTlocations that made the parent series a conventional sitcom.Stuart Failsnot having an audience gives it more freedom to play with the genres.
Stuart, Denise, Bert, and Barry’s alternative universes explorations effectively makeStuart Fails to Save the Universemore sci-fi thanBig Bang Theoryever was, especially considering how the latter followed the sitcom’s tropes and structures, firmly making it a hangout show.Stuart Failswill only keep some of that, with its features determined to expand theTBBTuniverse.
Our Take On Stuart Fails’ Last News
Stuart Fails’ Structure Makes The TBBT Characters’ Wishes Come True
The closest thatThe Big Bang Theorygot to sci-fi was during Sheldon and Leonard’s nightmares, when they sometimes inhabited the worlds of their favorite TV shows, movies, and comics in a hilarious way, directly influenced by the episode’s events.Stuart Fails to Save the Universegoing further makes it more interestingbecause of how incredibly different it can be.
Stuart, Denise, Bert, and Barry being characters inThe Big Bang Theoryand initially inhabiting the same world, seem to be the only things directly taken from the parent series.Stuart Fails to Save the Universe’s premise of alternative universes and the goal to restore reality hint at the main story being entirely different, despite potentially sharing a similar tone.
Stuart Fails to Save the Universewill release on HBO Max, unlikeThe Big Bang TheoryandYoung Sheldon, which aired on CBS, andGeorgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, which still airs on CBS.
Compared to howYoung SheldonandGeorgie & Mandy’s First Marriageexpanded theTBBTfranchise,Stuart Failshas the chance to introduce the biggest changes to it instead, making it the most ambitious. This could yield the spinoff the biggest rewards, especially consideringStuart Fails to Save the Universe’s direction towards something already beloved in the franchise as Sci-Fi.
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe
Cast
Stuart Bloom, the endearing yet perpetually unlucky comic book store owner from The Big Bang Theory, takes center stage in this upcoming spinoff. The series follows Stuart as he navigates new challenges, relationships, and misadventures, all while attempting (and humorously failing) to “save the universe.”
Doctor Who
Doctor Who: Released on June 10, 2025, this series follows the Doctor and their companion as they journey across time and space, encountering a range of extraordinary friends and adversaries, expanding the universe of the long-running British science fiction series.
