Spoiler: Wil Wheaton is a Wizard

About two years ago, I was having breakfast with my friend, Bill. Bill co-created The Big Bang Theory, and over the last decade or so, we have become extremely close, very good friends. He is like family to me and I just love that not only did Big Bang introduce me to a whole new generation of audience, it introduced me to two of my most cherished and treasured friends, in Bill Prady and John Bowie.

Bill told me that he and Chuck Lorre were developing a Big Bang spinoff with Zak Penn, and went on to describe Stuart Fails To Save The Universe. I was in love with the entire thing from the first few minutes he talked about it, and that excitement and enthusiasm for this thing to get to the audience has never softened. For almost two years, we’d get together for some reason, and I’d excitedly listen to Bill as he told me what stories they were working on, how they had developed the arc of the season, and how it was all going with the studio and the network.

For a show that I never expected to be part of at all, I became (and remain) intensely invested in its success. I wanted five seasons, and then five more. I genuinely loved it.

Let’s fast forward to October of last year. I know the show is in production, because all of my friends are working on it. John is texting me from the set, telling me what an incredible cast it is, how much fun they are all having. I’m texting Bill to ask how it’s all going, and he couldn’t be happier.

Neither of them says anything to me about playing a wizard in a universe where magic is real, so when the email arrives asking about my availability to do a few days on the show, the excitement and surprise shake the foundation of my home. Yeah, I’m available. Even if I’m not available, I will become available.

So I go to Universal Studios for a table read, where I meet Tommy Walker (god, I love him) and get to see Melissa Rauch for the first time in years. The entire room is rocking with laughter by the time we are done. I have to wait a week to go to the set, but first I have to be fitted for my costume.

When Felicia and I wrote the Fawkes issue of The Guild, I wanted his in-game wizard robe to be really over the top, with lots of runes and Eldritch energy that he absolutely can’t control, but wears because it makes him look cool. So during my fitting, I mentioned to Val, the costume designer, that I would *love* it if we could put some runes on the robe, as a little easter egg for me and like twelve other people. She’s rad, by the way. She is so creative and clever, puts so much intention into every detail on every costume, nothing is there just because. Everything has a reason, just like it did on Big Bang Theory.

I put rings on almost all my fingers, and you know that in my imagination, each one held a different spell, a different well of magical energy, and so on. No, it doesn’t matter to the audience, but it matters to me, it’s fun.

A funny and fun thing happens when I put the robe on. Without meaning to, I stand up as straight as I can. I am tits up all the way, my shoulders feel strong and solid (they are neither), and I feel legitimately cool. As Lester Bangs says in Almost Famous, “Oh, dude, they made you feel cool, and you are not cool.”

You can see the pins and stuff on the robe in these pictures from my fitting, because I didn’t take any pictures of myself when I was on set (I made a choice to leave my phone in my dressing room, so I could be fully present on set, forgetting that it is also my camera. Oops).

Also, while I was at my fitting, Jonathan Frakes showed up! He was directing episodes after mine, and was there to prep. He found out I was going to be there, so he surprised me with a big hug and a day I didn’t think could get any better took its place in the top ten of 2025.

A few days later, I reported to set for my first day, where I proceeded to have one of the best days of my life, playing a motherfucking WIZARD.

The first thing I notice when I walk into the stage is how happy everyone is. This show shoots in Los Angeles at a time when that is not as common as we all want it to be. Everyone is thrilled to have the job, to go home after work, to be collaborating with genuinely talented professionals. (For instance, every grip on this show is a Key Grip, usually, because they were all so happy to work locally).

The cast are all my friends, all people I know, some better than others, and just like when I was on Big Bang Theory, they welcome me like I have been there all along and won’t be done in three days.

We rehearse the entire sequence, very loosely, just getting an idea where we will all be, where the camera will go, all that stuff. We don’t get into performance at all, yet. This is pretty much just blocking. I find out that I will get to stand on this lever platform thing that will lower me into the scene, as if I have come through a portal (A PORTAL) to deliver my magical justice.

So we get into it, we shoot some of it, and it’s just incredibly fun and satisfying. About three hours into the day, I realize that I, too, am just having fun. For the first time maybe ever in my life, I feel worthy and unafraid of being fired when I am on set. I make choices to see how they feel and if they work. Some do, some don’t, but Kyle Newacheck, the director, encourages me to play and find stuff, even if it means I find something that doesn’t work.

I can’t overstate how healing this is for me, at 53 years-old, to be on the set of a show that really matters to me, where I don’t want to let anyone down, and feel supported and safe. Even when I was on Big Bang Theory, and I’d been recurring for almost ten years, a very big part of me was absolutely convinced I was going to fuck up and get fired. Not because of anything anyone said or did when I was there, but because of the trauma my mom filled me with when I was a kid.

The first day, we do everything except the big battle between me and Brian, which will be first up when we come back tomorrow. For the first time ever in my entire career, I don’t want the day to end. I don’t want to race back home to my regular life. I want to stay on the set and keep playing with my friends.

So the morning comes and we are all on the set again, blocking the big fight. The set is cleared out of everyone except me, Brian, Kyle, the cameraman and the visual effects team. Kyle asks Brian and me if we had any ideas, before he tells us what he’s thinking. I can’t overstate how rare this is, a director asking actors what they are thinking, before he even mentions what he is thinking. It opens the door to collaboration, gives us permission to take some chances, and relaxes me so much, I let go of tension I didn’t realize I was holding.

I have spent more time than is probably necessary, practicing my spellcasting at home in the mirror. I have very clear ideas about how Wil Wheaton from the Wizard’s Guild of America casts spells, how I grab the magical energy from the aether and shape it into fire, stuff like that.

Brian has ideas, too, and Kyle takes his and mine and adds them into what he was already thinking. We develop this beautiful choreography, and Brian makes this choice right away to be kind of stiff and unfamiliar with his magic, to help sell how fluid and experienced I am with mine. It’s another moment where a scene partner makes me look so much cooler than I am, just like Jim always selling how much you loved to hate Evil Wil Wheaton back in the day.

We are moving through it slowly, starting and stopping so VFX can see where to put practical explosions on the set, when I get an idea.

“Hey, Kyle,” I say, “can I pitch two things?”

“Sure,” he says.

“Okay. What if I deflected one of his attacks like this,” I make a Vulcan salute and thrust my hand forward, putting all my body’s energy and intention behind it.

“Oh yeah! And I can throw it like this!” Posehn makes the Dio Rock Goat and aims the horns at me.

“Holy shit that’s so cool,” I say.

“I love that!” Kyle says.

“And what if I pulled my octopus tattoo off my arm, and threw it at him?” I say, casually spending a few hundred thousand dollars on the resulting visual effects shots. Kyle’s eyes light up. Brian’s eyes light up. Suddenly, I am surrounded by several pairs of lit up eyes.

Kyle turns to one of the producers. I can’t recall who it was, due to the fog of excitement, but they pow wow for a second. I can see that they are getting excited about it. He turns back to me. “Do you own it?”

“I do.” This has come up before, so I am prepared with releases and permissions.

“Great. Let’s do it.”

Holy shit it’s going to happen!

Bill will later tell me that refining the shot becomes more complicated and technically fraught than they ever expected, and it’s entirely worth it.

We spend a few hours filming our battle. It’s a mixture of visual and practical effects, and I feel so cool the entire time. It’s just so many things I love all coming together at once, a gift I will cherish forever.

When we wrap, I get this lovely round of applause from the cast and crew. In that moment, I make a wish for the show to get picked up, so I can come back next season in a different universe, and play with my friends again. I walk back to my dressing room, wearing the absolute shit out of my robe one last time.

Felicia and I talked about this in even more detail on the podcast, which you can find in all the podcast places, if you’d like to hear more.

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