Will There Be a ‘Quantum Leap’ Season 3? Show Boss Addresses Future
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On the one hand, we need more Quantum Leap after the way the second season ended, introducing a new element to its story. However, if that’s the end, it also is, in a way, a satisfying conclusion.
The NBC drama, following the original series starring Scott Bakula, could now see two-person leaps. The team in the present—Magic (Ernie Hudson), Addison (Caitlin Bassett), Ian (Mason Alexander Park), and Jenn (Nanrisa Lee)—was able to use the DARPA code (which Eliza Taylor‘s Hannah created) to find a way to bring Ben (Raymond Lee), leaping around in time in people’s bodies to right wrongs, home. However, to do so, they realized, they’d need someone to swap places with him. Addison volunteered. But rather than Ben return home, the exes reunited in the past, setting the stage for a potential third season to follow both of them leaping.
Quantum Leap was renewed for its second season eight episodes into its first. Now, we’re still waiting for news on a third season.
“Whenever you’re doing seasons of television, most of the time you don’t know about the next season, and we were very conscious that we didn’t want to leave the audience hanging too dramatically,” co-showrunner and executive producer Dean Georgaris tells TV Insider. “We wanted the ending to satisfy and to make them excited for the next chapter or, as someone said to me, demand a third season. And I think having now Ben and Addison leaping kind of demands a third season, because it’s opening up a whole new dynamic. At the same time, if at the beginning of Season 1, we separated the two of them, then we have united the two of them. So I think what’s nice is it’s a wonderful way to end what I think of as the first act of a three act multi-season journey for our two characters.”
Jordin Althaus/NBC
In the Season 2 finale, a butterfly effect was achieved when, in the past, Ben was able to show Hannah’s son Jeffrey the good that he does as a leaper; in the present, Jeffrey became Gideon Rydge (James Frain), who wanted to harness the power of leaping for himself because he blamed Ben for his father’s death. That butterfly effect erased Jenn’s death, after she’d broken into Quantum Leap to try to stop Gideon. But if there is a third season, should we expect to see anything else that changed?
“I don’t think that we are going to explore that because I think exploring the ripples of the butterfly effect almost demands a whole other show with a whole ‘nother group of characters,” Georgaris admits. Rather, “I think it’s really going to be about what can you do with two leapers instead of one. Season 3 is going to be mostly about that. What makes it more effective? What makes it more difficult? What impact does it have on the leapers and on our characters?”
Should we then be thinking that there won’t be a season-long villain with the focus on how having two people changes leaps?
“When you look back at Season 2, one of the things we tried to do was not introduce a villain right up top, but we did find an adversary very naturally along the way. I think in every great season of television that has a serialized component, we’re going to discover obstacles, we’re going to discover ultimately, I’m sure, a big bad, as we like to call them, but I think we loved the mystery side of Season 1,” shares the EP.
“But I think we all feel that the emotional impact of Season 2 felt maybe a little more in line with the original show, and I think it showcases the strength of our cast,” he continues. “I think it also showcases the premise of the series originally, which I think is as timely as ever, which is the power of kindness, the ripple effects of good acts and good gestures and this belief that there is a benevolent good driving us all forward, and if we have faith in that, that things will turn out okay. I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to have the notion of let’s all just be a little more kind to one another out there every week.”
Let’s just hope we get a chance to continue to leap along that journey.
