Stuart Fails To Save The Universe Team Breaks Down [Spoiler]'s Surprise Return And Grim Fate In Episode 1 Of The Big Bang Theory Spin-Off

It didn't take long for HBO Max's "Stuart Fails to Save the Universe" to bring back a member of the original cast of "The Big Bang Theory."

Twelve minutes into the July 23 premiere, Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman), his ex-girlfriend Denise (Lauren Lapkus), and geologist Bert Kibbler (Brian Posehn) are reunited with Rajesh Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar).

Or, at least, an alternate-universe version of the Caltech astrophysicist.

By this point in Episode 1, Stuart has already been visited by Stuart Prime, who tells him that the post-apocalyptic wasteland he inhabits — along with every other alternate universe — can be avoided if he repairs the quantum interference device built by Leonard, Sheldon, and Howard in the original universe. Thankfully, Raj, who's been held prisoner at Caltech for years by Grand Caliph Barry Kripke (John Ross Bowie), has done the math and knows how to make the world right again.

Alas, this alternate-universe version of Kripke shoots and kills this alternate-universe version of Raj before he has a chance to save the day. Soon enough, Kripke, Bert, and Stuart are transported to another parallel universe that seems pleasant enough, but something sinister is clearly at play, as evidenced by the neon green-glowing chips implanted in their necks.

Denise, meanwhile, is inadvertently left behind in the post-apocalyptic universe to mourn the loss of her action-hero boyfriend Gary. (R.I.P., Gary.)

Raj's fate feels especially cruel considering this version of the character had seemingly achieved the happily ever after that eluded him in the original series, where he was the only member of his friend group — Stuart included — who never found love and settled down. We learn that he rode an elephant to his wedding, only for his bride to be devoured by a giant moth shortly thereafter — a darkly comic twist that gives him the rom-com ending he'd always wanted before snatching it away almost immediately.

When I spoke with series co-creators Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady, and Zak Penn over Zoom, I asked whether they were consciously playing against fans' expectations by finally giving Raj a wife, only to have her killed off moments later — all of it unfolding off screen.

"No," Lorre told me.

"No, that's just what happened to him," Prady added.

"It just seemed funny," Lorre said.

Penn, however, preferred to focus on the upside: "He did get his dream. It just ended quickly. But better to have loved and lost."

Lorre then paraphrased Raj's own predicament: "I rode an elephant to my wedding and now I s**t in a bucket." He added with a laugh, "So there you go! We got him to the wedding."

If Raj's fate was dictated by the needs of the story rather than a desire to rewrite his ending, that same practical thinking also determined why he became the first original cast member to return.

As Prady explained, the writers needed "somebody who had the answer... and then he gets killed before he can use it. So, you sort of work back from there." Because the story required "somebody capable of doing this math," Prady said, Koothrappali was the obvious choice.

That said, when it came to murdering Raj, Bowie wasn't necessarily comfortable with the direction the story was taking — at least not at first. "I was very, very taken aback to read that," he told TVLine. "And I'm still not 100% comfortable with it, honestly, because it's Kunal, man! Who shoots Kunal?"

The actor eventually made peace with the moment by Episode 2 — which, as Bowie previews, offers a justification of sorts for Kripke's heinous crime. "There's two possibilities," he said. "One, that universe no longer exists, in which case he did not kill Raj. Or two, that's one of an infinite number of universes, in which case he killed one of an infinite number of Raj's, so it's a rounding error."

Posehn, for his part, was happy to remind me that he gets to exact a measure of revenge on Raj's behalf. "Bert gets to beat the s**t out of him," he said. "So, for everybody watching it going, 'Raj, no!' Like, you get that... satisfaction of watching me just pound him like a bear."

Sussman, meanwhile, was just happy to have the chance to reunite with Nayyar — after all, Stuart and Raj spent many a lonely night together, when they were both still single — more than six years after wrapping on "The Big Bang Theory." 

"Kunal is such a love," Sussman emphasized. "He's just a ball of joy, so it was nice going back. I mean, I've kept in touch with Kunal, but we haven't worked together — and in that way — in so many years that it was just a delight." And seeing Nayyar's take on this alternate-universe Raj only heightened the experience: "When they called action and I saw what he was bringing to it, I was like, 'Oh, okay. All right. It's on, it's on.' Yeah. It was awesome."

While "Stuart Fails to Save the Universe" is directly spun off from "The Big Bang Theory," its first Easter egg actually ties the series to "Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage," the sequel to "Young Sheldon" that was in production on Season 2 alongside "Stuart."

The hidden nod appears in the opening scene, as Bert approaches the Comic Center of Pasadena and the camera pans out to reveal an inflatable balloon man that somehow survived the apocalypse.

"I don't think we scripted an inflatable balloon man," Prady said. Lorre then explained, "When we did that, we had just used the inflatable balloon man on 'Georgie & Mandy,' so we had it. It was available."

The same inflatable balloon man appeared in "Georgie & Mandy" Season 2, Episode 4, "Dirty Hands and a Barbed-Wire Fence," after Sheldon's brother Georgie (played by Montana Jordan) bought it to drum up business for his East Texas tire shop.

For more behind-the-scenes insights from the "Stuart Fails to Save the Universe" premiere, watch TVLine's full Episode 1 breakdown with the cast and executive producers embedded above, then grade the series premiere in our poll below.