Stuart Fails To Save The Universe: Melissa Rauch Reveals The Story Behind Episode 7's Alternate Bernadette — And Talks Possible Season 2 Return

"Stuart Fails to Save the Universe" brings back Melissa Rauch for a second helping of Bernadette Rostenkowski in Episode 7 — but this version of the beloved "Big Bang Theory" character took a decidedly different path in life.

After Stuart, Denise, Bert, and Kripke land in a universe where everyone is telepathic, they eventually track down Bernadette, who never left the child beauty pageant circuit behind to pursue a career in science. Instead, she's now a drug-addled children's dance instructor working out of a strip mall.

That alternate path builds on bits and pieces of Bernadette's backstory established across the franchise. During "The Big Bang Theory" Season 8, it was revealed that she once competed for the title of Miss California Quiznos 1999, while the "Young Sheldon" Season 2 finale established that she first hit the pageant circuit while still in the single digits.

"There's a 'Sliding Doors' element here where you take one turn early on, and you have an entirely different life," co-creator Chuck Lorre tells TVLine in the video interview above. "We knew that about Bernadette going in, that that was her childhood. So what would happen if her childhood went beyond 10 years old tap dancing?"

The episode even includes a wink to Bernadette's previously established pageant history: After leaving her "Stuart" counterpart behind, the action cuts to Bert and Kripke munching on Quiznos back at the comic book store.

As it turns out, this particular Bernadette had been in the works since before "Stuart" went into production.

"When Chuck originally called and told me about the show and asked if I would be interested in doing it, that was actually the character that he pitched as an idea that they were throwing around," Rauch tells TVLine, confirming that the idea to turn her into an evil sorceress in Episode 3 came later. "He said that we would be coming back as our characters, but a different version of them and getting to play something wildly different from what we had in the past."

Specifically, Lorre floated "the idea of Bernadette working in, like, a strip mall dance studio" after her pageant experience extended well beyond childhood.

"That was so exciting to me," Rauch says. "I was thrilled to see that we ended up getting to do that. Getting to play two very different versions of Bernadette was really cool."

Bernadette's alternate path isn't the only revelation to come out of Episode 7. Once everyone gains the ability to hear each other's thoughts, we discover that even Kripke's internal monologue has the same speech impediment as his speaking voice.

It's not a detail John Ross Bowie ever expected the "Big Bang Theory" universe to address, but he's delighted that it did. "I love that they call it out, too," he tells TVLine.

Bringing the telepathy universe to life required some unusual behind-the-scenes maneuvering. Bowie explains that the cast wore earpieces during production, with recurring guest stars Tommy Walker (Gary), Ryan Cartwright (Kyle), Josh Brener (Trevor), and actress Mary Holland ("Ghosts") delivering their characters' internal dialogue from off camera so they could nail the timing — and they didn't just read their lines.

"They were doing our voices at us," Brian Posehn details, recalling Walker doing his best Bert impression while Cartwright tackled Kripke. The cast subsequently reconvened to record the actual voiceovers "like a radio play," according to Bowie.

"It was logistically one of the more complicated episodes to shoot," he says, "but it was also really fun to sort of quasi-deliver lines that you weren't really delivering, but you were thinking."

The telepathy wasn't even Episode 7's biggest technical undertaking. At just 15 minutes, the installment is the shortest of the 471 episodes produced across the "Big Bang Theory" franchise, which includes the mothership, "Young Sheldon," "Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage," and now "Stuart" — and according to Posehn, it was originally even shorter.

"I think they had to add a scene even to get it to that 15," he reveals. "I think it was 12 or 13 at one point, and we got it to that."

Late in the episode, Stuart and the gang rapidly cycle through universes, culminating in a sequence that puts three different versions of all four characters onscreen simultaneously.

"That whole chunk, all whatever 75 seconds of it, took three days to shoot," Bowie reveals — which might explain why there was no getting this episode to a more standard 20-22 minutes. The process became so complicated that even the actors occasionally lost track of which iteration of their characters they were supposed to be playing.

"There was one point where I was the guy going, 'Are we still f–king doing this?'" Posehn recalls. "'Go back and stand there, and now you're this version of Bert.' And I was like, 'What? I thought we got that!'"

Posehn is quick to clarify that he wasn't actually complaining. "I was bored of myself," he jokes.

"It was just so confusing," Bowie adds. The production required two additional sets of stand-ins to provide eyelines for the various versions of the characters sharing the frame, plus a stunt performer for Posehn.

"I have a picture that I showed my wife and she loved," he says. "I have four guys my size dressed exactly like me. So weird, so surreal."

With "Stuart Fails to Save the Universe" already renewed for Season 2 ahead of its September 24 finale, could Rauch return as yet another version of Bernadette — or perhaps someone else entirely who just happens to look like her?

"I think it's so wonderful and such an incredible story generator, this world that they've created, where you have these endless possibilities of endless variations of these characters," Rauch says. "I would be thrilled to come back as different versions of Bernadette, for sure."

But she wouldn't rule out playing an entirely new character, either: "These writers have always been the most genius architects of character. If they were to come up with something else, I'd dive into that headfirst also because I just love getting to say their words."

For Rauch, the opportunity to keep returning to the "Big Bang Theory" universe is particularly meaningful as the original series approaches its 20th anniversary in 2027.

"It was one of the greatest gifts of my life," she says of her time on "Big Bang." "I thought when the show ended that I would have some time to process what it meant to me, and I still don't know that I've fully processed it."

What she does know is how much the franchise continues to resonate. Rauch says she now hears from people who grew up watching "Big Bang" and even pursued careers in science because of the show.

"To get to continue in this universe is such an honor," she says. "It's very special."