Bowie is soon called back to set. The production returns to the same scene, incorporating Lorre’s alternate line, which draws hearty laughs in video village from Lorre, Prady, fellow co-creator Zak Penn, and director/executive producer Kyle Newacheck. Just as it seems they’ve nailed the take, Prady notices that one character, dressed as a judge advocate, is wearing an Army beret incorrectly. Cameras roll again.
Watching those repeated takes, something suddenly dawns on me. Despite all of the show’s multiversal madness — the alternate realities, the explosions, the Army fatigues, the life-or-death stakes — one defining characteristic of Barry Kripke remains untouched: his speech impediment. The multiverse may reinvent “Big Bang Theory” characters in countless ways, but it never loses sight of what makes Kripke, Kripke.
“Not only does it stay the same, but we discover in an episode where everyone has telepathy that even his inner monologue has the speech impediment, which is hilarious,” Bowie says. “It is a defining characteristic of the character, but I also think it’s one of those things that dimensionalizes him. Because if he had a speech impediment through his childhood, then he was probably bullied a lot, and he probably put up some pretty big walls and defenses to deal with that bullying… I’ve always taken it as part of what makes him, him.”
Spending considerably more time with Kripke this season has also given Bowie a greater appreciation for the character’s place within the group.
“I think in the first episode, I have more dialogue than I had in the first four seasons of ‘Big Bang,’ and I’m only slightly exaggerating,” he says. “The more time you spend with the guy, the more you understand what he has to offer, and there are a few moments in this first season where you realize that they do kind of need him around. He’s the physicist in the group. He’s able to get them into jams, but also get them out of a couple, as well. So that’s been fun to play — to highlight Kripke’s usefulness to the group for a change, rather than just using him as an irritant.”
Asked how Kripke adapts to life as one of the show’s reluctant heroes, Bowie insists the longtime antagonist hasn’t changed nearly as much as viewers might expect.
“Yeah, I mean, I think he loves the attention,” Bowie says. “But I think, deep down… deep, deep down, he is not actually evil. He’s just very, very prickly, and very sarcastic.”
“Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” premieres Thursday, July 23 at 9 p.m. on HBO Max.
