‘Big Bang Theory’ Spinoff ‘Stuart Fails to Save the Universe’ Will Have ‘A Lot of CGI,’ Says Chuck Lorre

Expect some big effects on “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe,” the latest “The Big Bang Theory” series in development at HBO Max under Chuck Lorre, fellow “Big Bang” creator Bill Prady and screenwriter Zak Penn (“The Avengers”).

Speaking Monday at the Banff World Media Festival in Banff, Alberta, Canada, Lorre gave a few tidbits on the show, including the fact that he, Penn and Prady have already written ten episodes. (The Warner Bros. TV project is still in development phase and has not yet been formally picked up by HBO Max — although that seems to be a very likely thing.)

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“There’s a lot of CGI,” Lorre revealed. “There’s a lot of special technical stuff that — you know, for me in my career, a big production number was two people sitting on a couch, drinking coffee! This is different. This is trying to incorporate some of that world of science fiction/fantasy into a comedy. And I’m completely out of my element, which is what I wanted. Which is what I was hoping to do, something that I had no experience with. And maybe I can learn as we go.”

When it was pointed out that DC is just down the block on the Warner Bros. lot, Lorre admitted that the “Stuart” team had a bit of an uncomfortable exchange with them recently. “Yeah, we had an argument with them recently — they’re very protective of the Green Lantern,” he said. “We were making fun of the Green Lantern. Really? Even when I was 10, I knew that stunk!”

“Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” stars Kevin Sussman reprising his role as comic book store owner Stuart Bloom on “The Big Bang Theory.” Also on board are Brian Posehn, who appeared in “The Big Bang Theory” in the role of Bert Kibbler, a geologist at Caltech; Lauren Lapkus, who played Denise, the assistant manager of Stuart’s comic book store and Stuart’s eventual love interest; and John Ross Bowi, who will reprise the role of Barry Kripke, a fellow physicist at Cal-Tech.

“I reunited with my old pal, Bill Prady, who I created ‘The Big Bang Theory’ with, and a wonderful science fiction feature writer named Zak Penn, who’s written a lot of gigantic, big time Marvel kind of movies with superheroes and things,” Lorre said. “And we’ve written 10 episodes of this thing.”

That’s about all he would reveal about “Stuart,” but he did talk a bit more about the staying power of “The Big Bang Theory,” which ran for 12 highly-rated seasons on CBS, the prequel “Young Sheldon” (which ended after seven seasons last year) and the spinoff of that show, “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage,” which has been renewed for a Season 2.

“These shows that we worked so hard on for so many years that we were so determined to make meaningful and funny at that same time, they seem to be sustaining over time, which is incredibly gratifying,” he said. “And even more so, I meet people all the time who enjoy ‘Young Sheldon’ and never watched ‘The Big Bang Theory.’ They didn’t even know it was a prequel, which is incredibly gratifying, because, when Steven Molaro and I started doing that, the hope was that it would stand on its own. That it would not be leaning against this 12 years of this other series. And it did, it became its own series, its own ensemble. That’s immensely gratifying. The idea is to make a to make a silicon chip instead of Kleenex, something that you can use it again.”

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