Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 5 arrives August 20: HBO Max release date confirmed

Episode 5 of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe arrives on HBO Max on Thursday, August 20, 2026. It’s called “Spoiler: Gary Works for UPS,” and it drops at 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET, picking up Stuart Bloom’s latest multiverse-scale mess. Internationally, new episodes have been showing up on Fridays. Season 1 began on July 23, runs for 10 episodes, and, if the current weekly schedule stays in place, should wrap on September 24.

The series follows Stuart as he tries to clean up an accident that threatens the multiverse across a stack of alternate realities. Kevin Sussman stars alongside Lauren Lapkus, Brian Posehn, and John Ross Bowie. As the fourth Big Bang Theory series, it keeps looping back to the original show too, with cameos from Raj, Penny, Bernadette, and Amy.

If you’ve been with The Big Bang Theory for years, the weekly cameos alone give you a reason to keep up. HBO Max has already renewed Stuart Fails to Save the Universe for season 2 after saying it was the platform’s second-biggest comedy debut globally, though it still hasn’t put out any actual numbers. Critics have been divided on the darker, stranger tone, while audience response has leaned warmer, including an 81% Rotten Tomatoes audience score, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

You can stream Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 5 on HBO Max on Thursday and, if the rollout stays the same, internationally on Friday.