“Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” Star Felt ‘Terrible’ Killing Beloved “Big Bang Theory” Character in Spinoff

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, now streaming on HBO Max.

NEED TO KNOW

• HBO Max debuted The Big Bang Theory‘s newest spinoff at Comic-Con: Stuart Fails to Save the Universe

• John Ross Bowie teased Kripke’s redemption arc while maintaining his character’s signature antagonistic traits

• The spinoff explores a multiverse concept allowing for unexpected returns of familiar Big Bang Theory characters

Barry Kripke has always known how to push buttons, but in Stuart Fails to Save the Universe he takes things much further.

HBO Max surprised fans by debuting the first episode of the highly anticipated Big Bang Theory spinoff during a packed San Diego Comic-Con panel on Thursday, July 23. During the panel, cast member John Ross Bowie reflected on the series’ biggest premiere shocker: Kripke killing Raj Koothrappali.

The new Big Bang Theory spinoff wastes little time establishing Kripke (Bowie, 55) as a major threat. In the premiere episode, the alternate-universe version of the physicist rules over a post-apocalyptic South Pasadena, where he captures Stuart (Kevin Sussman), Denise (Lauren Lapkus), Bert (Brian Posehn) and an alternate version of Raj (Kunal Nayyar), now sporting a rugged look and a much more paranoid outlook after years of captivity. 

Kunal Nayyar and Brian Posehn in ‘Stuart Fails to Save the Universe’
Credit: HBO Max

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After the group escapes, Raj stays behind to help repair a device that could save the multiverse — only for Kripke to shoot him before he can finish the job. 

Even Bowie admits pulling the trigger on one of The Big Bang Theory‘s beloved core characters wasn’t easy.

“It’s like shooting Fonzie. I felt terrible,” he joked at the panel.

John Ross Bowie in ‘Stuart Fails to Save the Universe’
Credit: Colin Remas Brown/HBO Max

Thankfully, he assured worried fans there’s no need to mourn Raj for long.

“I only kill Raj once,” he says, referencing the show’s multiverse premise, which leaves the door open for familiar characters to return in unexpected ways.

“You saw that Raj comes back, right? I really wanted them to show that Raj comes back or else I wasn’t going to come out here,” he explained. “Why couldn’t I have just shot Howard?”

Kunal Nayyar, Simon Helberg and John Ross Bowie in ‘The Big Bang Theory’
Credit: Monty Brinton/CBS via Getty

While Kripke begins the series as its primary antagonist, Bowie said audiences will discover there’s more to the character than his villainous introduction.

“He gets some moments of redemption as this series progresses. I think he grows more in these 10 episodes than he did in the previous 11 seasons,” Bowie recently told PEOPLE. “I think there’s a real sense of him going along to get along. Look, Kripke gonna Kripke.”

The actor also hinted that Kripke never completely loses what made him such a memorable foil in The Big Bang Theory.

“Obviously, he’s sort of the in-house villain of the show, much as he was on the last program, but the necessity of this group is that he eventually has to learn how to work with other people,” Bowie said.

He continued, “He’s Kripke, don’t get me wrong. You’re going to hear some awful stuff from Kripke’s mouth. But he has a little bit of an arc, and it’s fun to take him on that journey.”

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe drops new episodes Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max.

Read the original article on People