Wil Wheaton dies as giant demon Bernadette appears

The third episode of the HBO Max series "Stuart Fails to Save the Universe," which premiered on August 6, 2026, featured dramatic returns and a major character death, continuing the show's pattern of reimagining familiar faces from "The Big Bang Theory." In the episode titled "Spoiler Bert Is Magic," the central quartet-Stuart Bloom, Bert Kibbler, Denise, and Barry Kripke-land in an alternate universe where magic is real and science is forbidden.

The episode's narrative centers on two significant guest appearances. Melissa Rauch returned as Bernadette Rostenkowski, but in this reality, she is a sorceress who has been expelled from the Wizards Guild of America. She convinces Stuart Bloom to provide his blood, claiming it is needed for a reversal spell to restore her powers. Upon drinking it, Bernadette reveals her true identity as a demon, grows to a gigantic size, and begins wreaking havoc on Pasadena while searching for a multiverse-hopping machine.

The second cameo came from Wil Wheaton, who once again played a version of himself, this time as a wizard and representative of the Wizards Guild. Wheaton arrives to confront Stuart for inadvertently restoring Bernadette's power and...