Now the franchise spins off in a completely new direction. “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” focuses on Stuart, the owner of the comic book store where the science geniuses and comic book enthusiasts and geeks hung out in the original series.

This is a completely different direction for the franchise. Instead of looking further into the lives of the main cast, the cast in this series centers on four of the peripheral characters in the initial series: Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman), his girlfriend Denise (Lauren Lapkus), quantum physics scientist Barry Kripke (John Ross Bowie), and geologist Bert Kibbler (Brian Posehn). And yes, some of the characters from the initial series will pop up.

The premise of the show has Stuart accidentally breaking a quantum device created by Sheldon, Leonard, and Howard, that ultimately leads to chaos. He has unwittingly opened a portal to other universes.

The universe is now split into multiple universes. The show begins in an Armageddon universe. Stuart is visited by the Stuart in the Big Bang timeline and told to fix the device to put everything back to normal. That is the basis of the story as Stuart, Bert, Barry, and Denise end up all jumping between various universes, each with their own strange ways.

Through the season there are several alternative versions of the characters, as everything has been messed up, thanks to Stuart. Can he figure it out to bring everything back to normal? And what is normal anyway?

This sci-fi comedy will not appeal to some viewers who are expecting a continuation of the original series. There are several characters from “The Big Bang Theory” that appear on this show, however because it is in alternate universes, the characters are not as viewers know them.

Having Stuart Bloom, the comic book store owner and art major tasked with restoring order in the universe is a stretch, and one the producers – and creator Chuck Lorre) hope will capture the imaginations of viewers.”The Big Bang Theory” and “Young Sheldon” garnered the love of viewers along with many awards. Will fans of the original series embrace this concept? Time will tell.

When speaking with a group of television critics, Lorre admitted he had been thinking about this concept for about 12 years.

“I had this idea that Stuart, in the comic bookstore, there was a portal in the back room to other universes. And I’ve always wanted to work in a bigger genre than what we were doing in front of an audience. I loved what we did in front an audience, but the idea of working with visual effects and computer graphics and all the things that you can do. Now, if you can imagine it now, you can do it in film. And I’ve been a longtime fan of Mr. Sussman and I just thought he’d be the perfect lead for this kind of a comedy.”

This story is so far-fetched, Sussman said, “Nothing could help me prepare for this role.” By a strange coincidence, he actually did work in a comic book story years ago.

Fans of “The Big Bang Theory” know that Stuart and Denise finally became a couple. “Yeah, at the end of ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ Stuart has this new relationship, this good relationship, and it was really exciting,” Sussman said. “And then, of course, the show stopped, and it’s like, ‘that’s so Stuart,'” he chuckled. But in this show the two are together, in some universes and not in others. It is a bit confusing, but those who watch all the episodes will understand.

“Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” debuted July 23 on HBO Max, with new episodes coming out each subsequent Thursday for the ten-week run of the first season. It is very different from the previous shows, and definitely won’t be to everyone’s taste. But some will enjoy the strange things that happen to this foursome as they jump from one universe to another.