‘Quantum Leap’ Team on Modern Sequel’s Connection to the Original Series
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It took nearly three decades, but fans of one classic cult series can finally look at 2022 as “Leap year.” NBC has hit the refresh button and brought back Quantum Leap, the wildly inventive and beloved time-travel drama that aired 97 endlessly engaging episodes from 1989 to 1993.
The new sequel series is a unique kind of returning favorite, tweaking the original concept while maintaining its signature humor, hope, history, and heart — and holding fast to a continuity with its past. Given that the show will compete on a big-budget TV landscape luring viewers to Middle-earth and Westeros this fall, executive producer Martin Gero (Blindspot) believes it’s vital to court Leap’s devoted fanbase. “Just the announcement that we were maybe doing this trended on Twitter immediately,” he says.
(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)
The Lure of the Leap
It’s no surprise, given the crazy joy and drama of the Donald P. Bellisario–created original series, which elevated Scott Bakula to star status as charming scientist Sam Beckett. Sam spent five seasons uncontrollably “leaping” inside person after person (to dramatic eras from the segregated South to the Vietnam War, to name a few) while also bantering with his cantankerous, cigar-chomping best friend, Al (Dean Stockwell, who died last November). As Al gathered information integral to these mysterious missions via supercomputer Ziggy, Sam continued his quest to simply return home — a fate never fulfilled in the original’s finale. (It’s available with the rest of the series on Peacock with a premium subscription.)
With that wistful ending viewers still talk about very much in mind, Gero insists this new iteration, two years in creation, “is not a reboot. It takes place thirtysomething years from where the original show ended up, so it still exists in that timeline, and we acknowledge the Quantum Leap program.” (Bellisario remains an executive producer, as does original co-EP/narrator Deborah Pratt.) “We want to deliver a show that feels like it has a reverence for the O.G. Leap,” Gero continues. “But we also want the feel to be modern and something new fans will love.”
Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell (Credit: Mario Casilli / TV Guide /© NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection)
New Backstory
The jumping action is now in the hands of dedicated quantum physicist Ben Song (Raymond Lee, Top Gun: Maverick), whom we meet when he celebrates his engagement to whip-smart colleague Addison Augustine (Caitlin Bassett, a military vet making her acting debut). Surrounding them are their close-knit Quantum Leap team — cynical security analyst Jenn Chou (Nanrisa Lee), brainy artificial intelligence scientist Ian Wright (Mason Alexander Park), and supportive boss Herbert “Magic” Williams (Ernie Hudson). However, mysterious text messages lead Ben to quietly depart his work family for an unsanctioned leap in the Quantum Accelerator.
Suddenly back in 1985, Ben lands in the body of a man helping steal explosives for supposedly nefarious reasons…and unfortunately, Ben has zero recollection of who he is and why he’s seeing a thirtysomething white man staring back at him in a mirror. “Like with the original series, that’s called ‘Swiss cheese memory,’” explains Raymond Lee of a condition Sam also experienced. “There are pockets where something will elicit a memory and Ben will try desperately to grasp onto it, but it comes in waves.”
(Credit: Serguei Bachlakov/NBC)
Once they realize what has happened, the team tries to bring Ben back, with Addison being the hologram only Ben can hear and see, much like Stockwell’s Al. “She’s doing her best to keep Ben out of trouble and get him home,” Bassett says. Needless to say, it puts a strain on their bond. “It’s the ultimate long-distance relationship,” says Gero.
For Lee, leaping into characters from astronaut to boxer has been a joyous thrill. “All my dumb hobbies growing up as a kid are now paying off,” he jokes. “It’s a bucket list trip every episode.”
Past Presence
Each hour also has lots of clues tying into Quantum Leap’s past, from the return of artificial intelligence computer Ziggy to Hudson’s Magic Williams, a character Sam leaped into in Season 3 episode “The Leap Home, Part II.” Magic looks to be a piece of the overall mystery. “That character’s connection is a big reason why [the Leap] program exists today,” hints Gero.
For longtime fans of Quantum Leap, no mystery is bigger than the fate of Sam Beckett. Is this sequel a chance for Bakula’s still-leaping Sam to return? “We would love for Scott to be a part of the show in one way or another, absolutely,” is all Gero can say. “The ball is in his court.” The Quantum Accelerator door remains open!
Quantum Leap, Premieres Monday, September 19, 10/9c, NBC
This is an excerpt from TV Guide Magazine’s 2022 Returning Favorites issue. For more first looks at fall’s returning shows, pick up the issue, on newsstands September 8.
