{"id":4798,"date":"2026-07-24T05:35:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T05:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4798"},"modified":"2026-07-24T05:35:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T05:35:43","slug":"stuart-fails-to-save-the-universe-co-creator-bill-prady-explains-the-science-behind-the-shows-multiverse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4798","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Stuart Fails to Save the Universe\u2019 Co-Creator Bill Prady Explains the Science Behind the Show\u2019s Multiverse"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nSPOILER ALERT:\u00a0<\/strong>This story contains spoilers from the series premiere of \u201cStuart Fails to Save the Universe,\u201d now streaming on HBO Max.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Creepy Twins, Religious Fanaticism and a Loaded Gun Collide in Tense Chamber Drama \u2018Godhead\u2019 \u2014 Fantasia<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tHBO Max\u2019s \u201cStuart Fails to Save the Universe\u201d opens in a post-apocalyptic Pasadena, an alternative world where zombie hands poke out of the ground, giant moths terrorize, random tears in reality serve as vacuum portals to unknown parts of the galaxy and survivors barter with their last remaining canned goods.<\/p>\n

\n\tAbout the only thing still operating is the comic book shop run by Stuart Bloom (played by Kevin Sussman), where the gang on \u201cThe Big Bang Theory\u201d would sometimes hang out. But even that store is no longer normal, as geeky fights among patrons quickly turn deadly. It\u2019s not a great place, so when another Stuart from a different dimension arrives, so begins our main character\u2019s quest to save the universe.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Alt Stuart, it was \u201cThe Big Bang Theory\u201d characters Leonard, Sheldon and Howard who built a quantum interference device that caused reality to be altered. Regular Stuart and Bert (Brian Posehn) embark on a quest to find the device at Cal Tech \u2014 and along the way, reconnect with Denise (Lauren Lapkus) and discover that Kripke (John Ross Bowie) has turned into an evil gang leader controlling much of the San Gabriel Valley. They also find Raj (Kunal Nayyar), who\u2019s been imprisoned by Kripke for quite some time and is looking to help them fix the device.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey\u2019re all captured, but Bert uses his geology expertise to create bombs with rocks and water \u2014 and they make it to the device. All is saved, until Kripke kills Raj \u2014 and the device then activates, taking Stuart, Bert and Kripke to another universe.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo how much of the show\u2019s multiverse can be explained by science? Sussman credits co-creator Bill Prady with having a handle on where the science works. \u201cThere\u2019s a bunch of quantum physics involved in the show, and Bill is an expert on quantum physics theory,\u201d Sussman says. \u201cYou can get away with a lot because at the end of the day, it is theory. It\u2019s popular theory, but it\u2019s legit. So I would ask him a question like, \u2018how can my character be here and be there at the same time?\u2019 And I had an epiphany at one point when I realized, oh wait, so it\u2019s not just parallel universes \u2014 it\u2019s parallel universes with a little time travel mixed in!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSussman says there were points while filming the show where it would help to understand the quantum physics theory behind what was happening in a particular scene.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI look forward to people on Reddit trying to dissect what\u2019s happening because I know that all of it can be argued,\u201d he adds. \u201cI would try to poke holes in it on set, and Bill always walked me through. \u2018No, see, the reason why this does make sense is A, B and C.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPrady explains that the device that Leonard, Sheldon and Howard built seems to have shifted the primary characters to a universe with a separate, distinct history that has an apocalyptic event that occurs sometime after \u201cThe Big Bang Theory\u201d and before we meet them.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Einsteinian issue that time is a fourth dimension comes into play here,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause when the device malfunctions, it alters reality, but it creates a new past as well. So when we meet them in the first episode, the apocalypse is some years ago, and that\u2019s a result of the alteration. Both the past and present and the future are altered from what they should have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Sia: Nostalgic for the Present\u2019 Review: A Concert Performance Film from 2016, but It Channels Sia\u2019s Mystery and Power<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tSo then the question is, when the characters move between universes, does the universe they left still exist, or is it being restructured?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat is ambiguous, and they don\u2019t know, and we don\u2019t know,\u201d he says. For example \u2014 now that Kripke has killed Raj, that doesn\u2019t seem good right? But in Episode 2, he will point out that either the universe they just left doesn\u2019t exist anymore, in which case he didn\u2019t kill Raj because that Raj never existed, or that they\u2019re we are dealing with an infinite number of universes, and so he just killed one Raj out of an infinite number, which is pretty minor.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut \u201cthe branching theory of multiverses states essentially that every quantum event that could go one way also could go the other, and at that point there\u2019s a branch, both universes exist side by side\u2026 The theory is that the universe branches at every decision point, so there\u2019s a rapidly growing, infinite number of universes. That gets into the very annoying realization that some infinities are bigger than other infinities, which is mathematically true and conceptually uncomfortable. But it would state that from the point of the Big Bang, the number of infinite parallel universes increases with every moment that the universe ticks by. So that was kind of the science and pseudoscience that sort of lays this out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPrady jokingly adds: \u201cHow useless is that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut it\u2019s a reminder that \u201cStuart Fails to Save the Universe\u201d may be science-fiction, but it\u2019s still grounded in some ways.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen I was teaching at USC, and somebody had a project that involved fantasy elements, I\u2019d say, the most important rule in writing fantasy is that the rules you create for your fantasy have to be as real as the laws of physics. They have to be consistent, and they always have to be the same,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n\tPrady uses \u201cBewitched\u201d as an example, with its arbitrary rule that only the witch who casts the spell can remove it. \u201cIt\u2019s based on nothing, but it keeps every \u2018Bewitched\u2019 episode from being three minutes long,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause without that rule, Endora would give Darrin donkey ears, and Samantha would remove them, and we\u2019d be done. Now, can your universe be raggedy around the edges? 100%. And that\u2019s \u2018Doctor Who.\u2019 The rules are there, but sometimes they don\u2019t quite work out, and the Doctor will explain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the case of multiverses, the parameters of what we think of as the \u201cmultiverse\u201d has been cemented in pop culture by Marvel films, \u201cRick and Morty,\u201d \u201cDark Matter\u201d and more. \u201cI think the reason that you wind up with multiverses with similar stories is that the notion that multiverses exist mathematically. Things like string theory and stuff touch on that. So you can build off of what has sort of percolated through the general consciousness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPrady notes that not all of it makes sense, and he\u2019s proud of the fact that the characters will acknowledge that.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cA guy online did a scientific analysis of what must be happening in this, and where he explains all the various scientific multiverse theories that we are clearly drawing from,\u201d Prady says. \u201cIt was thick, thick science. It does state that there\u2019s an infinite number of multiverses. So clearly, we should send that article to HBO Max and say, \u2018look, there\u2019s a scientific basis for additional seasons!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Director Na Hong-Jin Makes Comic-Con Debut With Frightening New \u2018Hope\u2019 Footage, Says Casting Hoyeon Was His \u2018Best Decision\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Stuart Fails to Save the Universe’ co-creator Bill Prady explains the science behind the show’s multiverse travel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[3828,3760,3761],"class_list":["post-4798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv","tag-bill-prady","tag-kevin-sussman","tag-stuart-fails-to-save-the-universe-2"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Stuart Fails to Save the Universe\u2019 Co-Creator Bill Prady Explains the Science Behind the Show\u2019s Multiverse - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4798\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Stuart Fails to Save the Universe\u2019 Co-Creator Bill Prady Explains the Science Behind the Show\u2019s Multiverse - 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