Could Stuart Fails To Save The Universe Bring Together Characters From Across The Big Bang Universe — Including Young Sheldon And Georgie & Mandy?

"Stuart Fails to Save the Universe" welcomed a slew of familiar faces from "The Big Bang Theory" during its first season. With the HBO Max spin-off already renewed for Season 2 and set to return in 2027, could it eventually reach beyond the mothership and bring together characters from across the larger franchise?

TVLine posed that very question to franchise co-creator Chuck Lorre, asking whether the multiverse comedy could someday create pairings that would otherwise be impossible — say, Laurie Metcalf and Zoe Perry, who played older and younger versions of Sheldon's mother Mary on "Big Bang" and "Young Sheldon," or Montana Jordan and Jerry O'Connell, who portrayed Georgie Cooper at different ages on "Young Sheldon," "Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage," and "Big Bang."

"We're considering everything," Lorre tells TVLine. The deciding factor, he says, is whether there's a worthwhile story to tell. "The reason to do it has to be that there's great story potential. And again, I know it sounds simple, but it's really not... and is it funny?"

Season 1 demonstrated just how elastic the "Stuart" universe can be. Series regulars Kevin Sussman, Lauren Lapkus, Brian Posehn, and John Ross Bowie all reprised their "Big Bang" roles as Stuart Bloom, Denise, Bert Kibbler, and Barry Kripke...

Original series stars Kunal Nayyar, Kaley Cuoco, Melissa Rauch, and Mayim Bialik all popped up twice as alternate versions of Raj Koothrappali, Penny, Bernadette Rostenkowski, and Amy Farrah Fowler...

Other franchise veterans resurfaced as bizarro versions of their previous characters — including Brian Thomas Smith as Zack, Riki Lindhome as Ramona, Joshua Malina as President-turned-JAG Seibert, and Dean Norris as Colonel Williams...

A few even played themselves, including Christine Baranski, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Penn & Teller.

There are plenty more opportunities for "Stuart" to bridge the different eras of the "Big Bang" universe. Most obvious is Sheldon himself: Jim Parsons originated the role on "The Big Bang Theory," while Iain Armitage portrayed his adolescent counterpart throughout the seven-season run of "Young Sheldon."

The same is true of several members of Sheldon's family: June Squibb originated the role of Meemaw in Season 9 of "Big Bang," before Annie Potts took over the role on "Young Sheldon" and later reprised it on "Georgie & Mandy." Courtney Henggeler first played Sheldon's twin sister Missy in Season 1 of "Big Bang" and returned in Season 11 — the same year that Raegan Revord made her debut as 9-year-old Missy on the prequel series.

Then there's Lance Barber, who appeared in Season 5 of "Big Bang" as Leonard's high school bully Jimmy Speckerman before he was cast as Sheldon's father, George Sr., on "Young Sheldon." Barber has since reprised the latter role twice on "Georgie & Mandy."

Whether "Stuart" eventually takes advantage of its multiverse premise to put Parsons' Sheldon face-to-face with Armitage's — or Mary with Mary, Meemaw with Meemaw, Missy with Missy, or twentysomething Georgie opposite his older self — remains to be seen. But with Season 2 already ordered, Lorre isn't ruling anything out.

"It's just as hard to put on a sh–ty show as a great show," he explains. "So why not just be very careful about how we proceed so that the promise of comedy and laughter is there at the end of the day?"