Bert Is Magic: Episode 3 Takes Stuart and Barry to a Universe Where Magic Replaced Science

Melissa Rauch has become the latest original The Big Bang Theory star to return in HBO Max's multiverse spinoff Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, reprising Bernadette Rostenkowski in a version of the character that swaps microbiology for magic. Helmed by The Big Bang Theory co-creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady alongside screenwriter Zak Penn, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe picks up after the original sitcom but trades Pasadena apartment blocks for a multiverse adventure. The series follows comic book shop owner Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman), who accidentally triggers a multiverse Armageddon after breaking a device built by Sheldon Cooper and Leonard Hofstadter, forcing him, girlfriend Denise (Lauren Lapkus), geologist Bert Kibbler (Brian Posehn), and physicist Barry Kripke (John Ross Bowie) to travel between alternate realities and encounter different versions of familiar Big Bang Theory characters. Rauch's appearance comes in the third episode of the series, after viewers saw Kaley Cuoco return as an alternate Penny in Episode 2 and Kunal Nayyar appear as an alternate Raj Koothrappali in the premiere.