Stewart took a leave from "Days" to play a role in the sci-fi fantasy "The Last Starfighter" (1983) and left the show for good when she played the lead in "Night of the Comet" (1984). An assured sci-fi satire, the film featured Stewart as one of a group of California "valley girls" who find themselves the only people left on Earth. Later assignments almost invariably found the sensuous and eager-to-please Stewart in leading roles, but the films themselves received very little exposure or, as with the silly "Psychic" (1992), went straight to video. Sometimes the films ("World Gone Wild" 1988) were watchable genre fare and sometimes ("Dudes" 1987) they were not.
Stewart's one hit was the sleeper comedy "Weekend at Bernie's" (1989), with Stewart as Jonathan Silverman's romantic interest. She did well to stay away from the sequel, focusing much of her energy in the 90s on TV-movies including "Passion and Paradise" (1989), and "The Sea Wolf" (1993).