Why Green Lantern Couldn’t Appear in The Big Bang Theory Spin-off

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe almost had a completely different DC hero at the center of its crossover episode. Creator Zak Penn revealed why the show had to pivot from its original choice and how the replacement actually worked out better.

Zak Penn reveals why The Flash appeared in Stuart Fails to Save the Universe

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe creator Zak Penn told Deadline that the show originally wanted Green Lantern for its DC crossover episode. However, HBO’s live-action series Lanterns blocked the character’s availability. “They told us we couldn’t have him because of Lanterns, which I understood,” Penn said. “Chuck was a little grumbly about it, but Bill and I pointed out to him that Flash was actually perfect.”

Penn explained that The Flash suited the episode’s dimension-hopping storyline even better. “If we needed something that’s going from dimension to dimension, Flash worked even better than Green Lantern,” he added. The episode sees Stuart and his friends trapped inside a comic book where Mr. Freeze terrorizes Gotham City. They then travel to Central City to find Golden Age Flash for help escaping.

“Golden Age Flash appealed to us a lot, just because he’s kind of silly. No offense to Golden Age Flash,” Penn said. The writers also leaned into the absurdity of comic book geography and villain placement. “Bill and I were laughing a lot about the whole notion of Gotham City isn’t where New York City is, which makes no sense,” Penn noted. The team deliberately placed the wrong villain in the wrong city to generate humor.

Penn highlighted the creative freedom the comedy format provides. “On this show we kind of took the attitude of ‘we’re going to purposely break things and then have the characters notice that the multiverse doesn’t work as well as it should,'” he explained. Director Robbie McNeill also added comic-style panel framing to enhance the visual tone.

The writers worked closely with DC’s Jim Lee to develop the episode’s comic characters. Lee previously teased the partnership at San Diego Comic-Con. “They basically said, ‘How can we help? Other than we won’t give you Green Lantern,'” Penn recalled.

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