Stuart Fails to Save the Universe has claimed another original cast member. It’s another brutal twist for fans of the original sitcom in the new Big Bang Theory spin-off, that too just three episodes into the new HBO Max series.
Wil Wheaton addresses his death on Stuart Fails to Save the Universe
The actor’s character, a Wizards Guild of America representative, died in a magic duel with fellow lead Bert (Brian Posehn) during the show’s third episode. Wheaton came after Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman) for unwittingly helping Bernadette regain her demon form after she had been stripped of her powers and expelled from the guild. Bert stepped in to shield Stuart from Wheaton’s fireball attack, sparking a fight that wrecked much of the comic book shop and ended with Wheaton’s character dead.
Wheaton told Deadline he had little context when he first received the script. “I remember when the script was sent to me, and I was reading through it and not getting most of it because I hadn’t seen anything else,” he said.
He shared that he knew he would play a wizard after a costume fitting, but nothing more. On reading the fireball fight scene, he photographed it and texted it to Bill Prady with a simple message of thanks.
Wil Wheaton also detailed how the death sequence came together on Stuart Fails to Save the Universe’s set, working closely with visual effects supervisor Tom Mahoney and Posehn to block and coordinate the fight.
“We had so much fun,” Wheaton said. He further described how the team worked out the mechanics of forming and throwing fireballs by hand. He called playing a wizard hurling fireballs a big deal for “a particular kind of nerd,” adding that he had never looked cooler on screen.
Reflecting on the experience, Wheaton referenced a line from Almost Famous, describing the feeling of being made to look cool despite not truly being cool, and calling it “an entirely fine place to be trapped.”
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe is streaming on HBO Max.
