'Quantum Leap' reboot pays homage to original — but sets it own course

ANAHEIM, Calif. — When it was announced that 1990s series Quantum Leap, which ran for five seasons on NBC, would be rebooted, expectations were high. The original series, while ratings challenged, was a beloved cult favorite.

Still, it looks like the reboot — which airs its season 1 finale on April 3 and was quickly renewed for a second season — has more than met the challenge.

“I don’t like ‘reboot’ or any of these terms,” said executive producer Dean Georgaris on March 25 at the show’s panel at WonderCon in Anaheim, Calif. “2022 needs Quantum Leap. That’s why it’s back.”

The original series featured Scott Bakula as time-traveling physicist Sam Beckett, who would leap into a different person’s body every episode in order to correct a historical wrong. It had one other main character, Al Calavicci (played by the late Dean Stockwell), who joined Sam as a hologram to guide him through his leaps.

In the revival, it's Raymond Lee as time-traveling physicist Ben Song. He’s backed by a team trying to bring him home: his fiancé Addison Augustine (Caitlin Bassett), who appears to him as a hologram; project leader Herbert “Magic” Williams (Ernie Hudson); chief IT architect Ian Wright (Mason Alexander Park); and head of security Jenn Chou (Nanrisa Lee).

The reboot, which takes place 30 years after Beckett disappeared, has found plenty of ways to not only pay homage to, but also build upon the original Quantum Leap.

One key connective tissues is through Hudson’s character. Early on, viewers learn that Sam Beckett had leaped into Magic when he was a soldier in Vietnam, a move that ultimately saved the lives of Magic’s whole platoon — including Sam’s older brother Tom, who had died in the original timeline. That incident is why Magic decided to revive the Quantum Leap project.

Magic “feels a sense of responsibility to Sam, who basically saved his life,” Hudson noted.

The reboot also brought back Susan Diol to play Al’s wife — now widow — Beth, and introduced their daughter, Janice, who has a mysterious connection to Ben.

Like the original, the reboot highlights the idea that you can learn a lot about someone by living their life, however briefly. This season Ben has jumped into the bodies of an exorcist priest, an Old West gunslinger, a flight attendant on a doomed plane, the father of a transgender high school athlete, and more.

“I feel like this show has always represented hope … that we don’t need to be afraid of each other,” said executive producer Deborah Platt, who also produced the original series. “If we can walk in each other’s shoes, we can all become better people.”

At the end of the penultimate episode, Ben did something Sam never did: He leaped into the future — one that appears to be apocalyptic. The finale may finally answer the season-long mysteries the show has been teasing, including why there's an “evil leaper” who keeps following Ben through time.

The show’s producers have much bigger plans for it.

“Star Trek has had nine spinoffs. It has had nine feature films” Pratt said. “This is just the beginning of Quantum Leap.”

—By Pauline Vu