''Quantum Leap'' is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

television series, created by

Donald P. Bellisario Donald Paul Bellisario (born August 8, 1935) is an American television producer and screenwriter who created and sometimes wrote episodes for the TV series '' Magnum, P.I.'' (1980), ''Tales of the Gold Monkey'' (1982), ''Airwolf'' (1984), ''Quan ...

, that premiered on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

and aired for five seasons, from March 26, 1989, to May 5, 1993. The series stars

Scott Bakula Scott Stewart Bakula (; born October 9, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in two science-fiction television series: as Sam Beckett on ''Quantum Leap'' and as Captain Jonathan Archer on ''Star Trek: Enterprise''. For ''Quantum L ...

as Dr.

Sam Beckett Dr. Samuel John Beckett is a fictional character and the protagonist on the science fiction television series '' Quantum Leap'', played by Scott Bakula. Initially, the audience knows very little about Sam, much as Sam knows little about himsel ...

, a physicist who involuntarily leaps through

spacetime In physics, spacetime is a mathematical model that combines the three dimensions of space and one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional manifold. Spacetime diagrams can be used to visualize relativistic effects, such as why differen ...

during experiments in

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

, by temporarily taking the place of other people to correct what he consistently discovers were historical mistakes.

Dean Stockwell Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...

co-stars as Admiral

Al Calavicci Rear Admiral Upper Half Albert Calavicci, USN, is a fictional character on the science fiction television series ''Quantum Leap'', played by Dean Stockwell. Biography Al was born on June 15, 1934. His father, who worked in construction, immigr ...

, Sam's womanizing, cigar-smoking companion and best friend, who appears to him as a

hologram Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other Holography#Applications, applic ...

and researches and shapes his opinions of the past. The series features a mix of humor, drama, romance, social commentary, and science fiction. It was ranked number 19 on ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

''s "Top Cult Shows Ever" in 2007. A revival series, following the original show's continuity, premiered on NBC on September 19, 2022.

Premise and characters

In the near future,

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

Dr.

(

) theorizes that time travel within one's own lifetime is possible, and obtains government support to build his project "Quantum Leap". Some years later, having already spent $43 billion, the government threatens to halt funding, as no progress has been made, and Sam decides to test the project accelerator by himself to save the project before anyone can stop him. He is thrown back in time, and on regaining consciousness, finds that while he physically exists in the past, he appears to everyone else as a person into whom he had "leapt", and further has partial amnesia related to his own identity.Chunovic, Louis, ''The Complete Quantum Leap Book'', Citadel Press (1995) A hologram of his friend Admiral

(

) appears, visible and audible only to Sam, and helps to explain to Sam that he must correct something that went wrong in the past, aided with the resources of the project's supercomputer Ziggy, the

self-aware In philosophy of self, self-awareness is the experience of one's own personality or individuality. It is not to be confused with consciousness in the sense of qualia. While consciousness is being aware of one's environment and body and lifesty ...

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

" parallel hybrid computer with an ego." Despite successfully correcting the past, Sam continues to leap, seemingly "guided by an unknown force", to another place and time within his own lifetime, "putting right what once went wrong and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home". Sam has six doctoral degrees, a black belt in

kung fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...

, a photographic memory, and near-virtuosic musical talent, allowing him to easily slip into the shoes of many different people. The bookish and naive Sam is a sharp contrast to his best friend Al, a

womanizing Promiscuity is the practice of engaging in sexual activity frequently with different partners or being indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners. The term can carry a moral judgment. A common example of behavior viewed as promiscuous by man ...

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

-smoking five-time divorcé who grew up in an

orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

, was active in the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

, and was a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. Sam and Al are the only characters to appear in every episode. The supporting characters of each episode are the friends, family, and acquaintances of the person Sam has leapt into. With a few exceptions such as two-part or sequel episodes, these characters only appear once, though several actors have played multiple characters. Occasionally, Sam will also run into real-life historical figures such as

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

, and

Ruth Westheimer Karola Ruth Westheimer ( Siegel; born June 4, 1928), better known as Dr. Ruth, is a German-American sex therapist, talk show host, author, professor, Holocaust survivor, and former Haganah sniper. Westheimer was born in Germany to a Jewish fami ...

, the last of whom played herself. The other members of the Quantum Leap team are mentioned often and each appear in a handful of episodes. They include Irving "Gooshie" Gushman ( Dennis Wolfberg), the project's head programmer; Dr. Verbena Beeks (Candy Ann Brown), the project's

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

; Tina Martinez (

Gigi Rice Georgeanne Marie Rice is an American actress. Biography Rice graduated from The Ohio State University, with a bachelor of fine arts in musical theatre. Following her graduation, Rice served as an apprentice at Burt Reynolds's Maltz Jupiter The ...

), the project's

medical technician A medical laboratory scientist (MLS) or clinical laboratory scientist (CLS) or medical technologist (MT) performs diagnostic testing of blood and body fluids in clinical laboratories. The scope of a medical laboratory scientist's work begins wit ...

and Al's lover; and Dr. Donna Eleese (

Teri Hatcher Teri Lynn Hatcher (born December 8, 1964) is an American actress best known for her portrayals of Lois Lane on the television series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' (1993–1997); Paris Carver in the ''James Bond'' film ''Tomor ...

Mimi Kuzyk Mimi Kuzyk (born February 21, 1952) is a Canadian actress. Early life Kuzyk was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba to Fred and Kay Kuzyk, both of whom are Ukrainian immigrants, and received her early education at the Immaculate Heart of Mary School. Sh ...

), Sam's wife and the project's director in his absence.

Production

Development

The main premise for ''Quantum Leap'' was inspired by such movies as ''

Here Comes Mr. Jordan ''Here Comes Mr. Jordan'' is a 1941 American fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Alexander Hall, in which a boxer, mistakenly taken to Heaven before his time, is given a second chance back on Earth. It stars Robert Montgomery, Claude Rains ...

'' (1941) and '' Heaven Can Wait'' (1978), as well as the 1960s TV show ''

The Time Tunnel ''The Time Tunnel'' is an American color science fiction TV series written around a theme of time travel adventure starring James Darren and Robert Colbert. The show was creator-producer Irwin Allen's third science-fiction television series and ...

''. Series creator Donald P. BellisarioJenkins, Shelley (April 28, 2008)
"Donald P. Bellisario Interview"
.

Archive of American Television The Interviews: An Oral History of Television (formerly titled the Archive of American Television) is a project of the nonprofit Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, that records interviews with notable ...

. Published i
the article
on April 12, 2012. saw its concept as a way of developing an original

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...

, as anthologies were unpopular with the networks. The series ran on NBC for five

seasons A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pola ...

, from March 1989 through May 1993.

Soundtrack

The theme for the series was written by

Mike Post Mike Post (born Leland Michael Postil, September 29, 1944) is an American composer, best known for his TV theme music for various shows, including ''Law & Order''; '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''; ''The A-Team''; ''NYPD Blue''; ''Renegade ...

. It was later rearranged for the fifth season, except for the series-finale episode, which featured the original theme music. Scores for the episodes were composed by Post and

Velton Ray Bunch Velton Ray Bunch (born January 22, 1948 in Goldsboro, North Carolina) is a film and television composer. Sometimes credited as ''Ray Bunch''. Bunch has been nominated for an Emmy three times for his work, and won the fourth time for his score t ...

. A soundtrack album was first released in 1993, titled ''Music from the Television Series 'Quantum Leap' '', dedicated to

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Business *John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland * John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...

, who played Pat Knight in ''The Last Gunfighter''. It was released by

GNP Crescendo The gross national income (GNI), previously known as gross national product (GNP), is the total domestic and foreign output claimed by residents of a country, consisting of gross domestic product (GDP), plus factor incomes earned by foreign ...

on CD and

cassette tape The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...

Episodes

Broadcast history

The ''Quantum Leap'' series was initially moved from Friday nights to Wednesdays. It was later moved twice away from Wednesdays to Fridays in late 1990, and to Tuesdays in late 1992. The series finale aired in its Wednesday slot in May 1993. The most frequent time slot for the series is indicated by ''italics'': * Sunday at 9:00–11:00 pm on NBC: March 26, 1989 * Friday at 9:00–10:00 pm on NBC: March 31, 1989 – April 21, 1989 * ''Wednesday at 10:00–11:00 pm on NBC: May 3—17, 1989; September 20, 1989 – May 9, 1990; March 6, 1991 – May 20, 1992'' * Friday at 8:00–9:00 pm on NBC: September 28, 1990 – January 4, 1991 * Tuesday at 8:00–9:00 pm on NBC: September 22, 1992 – April 20, 1993 * Wednesday at 9:00–10:00 pm on NBC: May 4, 1993 In the United Kingdom, the show began on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

on February 13, 1990, airing Tuesday evenings at 9:00 pm. The final episode was scheduled to be aired on June 14, 1994, but altered schedules after the death of British dramatist

Dennis Potter Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Singing Detective'' (198 ...

earlier that month delayed the airing until June 21, 1994. Repeat episodes continued on the channel at various times until December 28, 1999.

Quantum Leap Week

During the summer of 1990, NBC scheduled a "Quantum Leap Week". Over the course of five consecutive nights, repeat episodes of the show were broadcast in an effort to drum up interest in the fledging series. The "Quantum Leap Week" was repeated during the summer of 1991. Each of the weekly events was supported by a series of advertisements. In each were a series of "

man-on-the-street ( )Vox Populi
. Oxford Diction ...

" attempting to say "Quantum Leap Week" fast, with varied levels of success.

Home media

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

has released the entire,

digitally remaster Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

ed, ''Quantum Leap'' series on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

. Some controversy arose when fans discovered that many songs had been replaced from the soundtrack due to music rights issues. For the fifth season, Universal included all of the original music. On April 13, 2016, Mill Creek Entertainment announced that it had acquired the rights to the series and re-released the first two seasons on DVD on June 7, 2016. On February 7, 2017, Mill Creek re-released ''Quantum Leap - the Complete Series'' on DVD and also released the complete series on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

for the first time. The 18-disc set contains all 97 episodes of the series, as well as most of the original music restored for all seasons.

Final episode

At the end of season five, Bellisario was told to write an episode that could serve as a season finale or series finale, as it was unclear whether ''Quantum Leap'' would be renewed. The episode contained some answers to long-standing questions about the show, but contained enough ambiguity for a season six. When the show was not renewed, two

title cards In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dial ...

were tacked on to the end of the last episode; one read that Al's first wife Beth never remarried, so they were still married in the present day and had four daughters. The last title cards said "Sam Becket icnever returned home." The finale was met by viewers with mixed feelings. A few years after the airing of the finale, a script for an alternate ending was leaked on the internet. It implied that Al, through encouragement of his wife Beth, would become a leaper to go after Sam. Bellisario has said no script exists and that he does not know where this idea came from. In 2018, however, fan Allison Pregler purchased title cards taken from season five that contained some shots of Al and Beth together; this implies that part of the alternate ending was, in fact, shot and gives credibility to the alternate-ending scenario. In May 2019, a video of the lost footage was uploaded to

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

by a contributor with the handle Leaper1953. How this person obtained the footage is not known publicly. Scott Bakula confirmed that several endings were shot and that the footage was authentic.

Reception

The series had a slow start in the ratings, and its timeslot was moved often, but it did well in the 18–49 demographic. The finale was viewed by 13 million American households. In 2004 and 2007, ''Quantum Leap'' was ranked number 15 and 19, respectively, on ''

'' "Top Cult Shows Ever".

Awards

Along with 43 nominations, ''Quantum Leap'' received 17 awards (listed below).

Other media

Books

;Nonfiction * Barrett, Julie, ''The A–Z of Quantum Leap''. Boxtree Ltd., London 1995. * Chunovic, Louis, ''Quantum Leap Book''. Boxtree Ltd., London 1993. * Schuster, Hal, ''The Making of Quantum Leap''.

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

, London 1996. * Dale, Matt, ''Beyond the Mirror Image''. TME Books, UK 2017. The limited edition first print hardcover was funded via Kickstarter in late 2016 and included both black & white and colored pages. Due to popular demand, the book was reprinted, though the 2nd edition did not include colored pages and came with a book jacket/dust cover. ;Fiction * Robitaille, Julie, ''The Beginning''. Transworld Publishers, Corgi, London 1990. . Re-published in U.K. by Boxtree Ltd., London 1994. . (Novelization of the pilot episode) * Robitaille, Julie, ''The Ghost and the Gumshoe''.

Corgi The Welsh Corgi ( or Corgi, plural Corgis, or occasionally the etymologically consistent Corgwn; ) is a small type of herding dog that originated in Wales. The name ''corgi'' is derived from the Welsh words and (which is mutated to ), meani ...

, London 1990. . Re-published in U.K. by Boxtree Ltd., London 1994. (Novelization of "Play It Again, Seymour" and "A Portrait of Troian") * McConnell, Ashley, ''Quantum Leap: The Novel''.

Ace Books Ace Books is a publisher of science fiction (SF) and fantasy books founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn. It began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns, and soon branched out into other genres, publishing its first scienc ...

, 1992. . Re-published in the UK as ''Carny Knowledge''. Boxtree Limited, London 1993. * McConnell, Ashley, ''Too Close for Comfort''. Ace Books, 1993. . * McConnell, Ashley, ''The Wall''. Ace Books, 1994. . * McConnell, Ashley, ''Prelude''. Ace Books, 1994. . *

Melanie Rawn Melanie Rawn (born 1954) is an American author of fantasy literature. She received a BA in history from Scripps College and worked as a teacher and editor before becoming a writer. She has been nominated for a Locus award on three occasions: in ...

: ''Knights of the Morningstar''. Ace Books, 1994. . * Melissa Crandall: ''Search and Rescue''. Ace Books, 1994. . * McConnell, Ashley, ''Random Measures''. Ace Books, 1995. . * Storm, L. Elizabeth, ''Pulitzer''. Boulevard, 1995. . * Henderson, C.J. and

Laura Anne Gilman Laura Anne Gilman (born 1967, New Jersey) is an American fantasy author. Biography Laura Anne Gilman was born in 1967 in suburban New Jersey. She received a Liberal Arts education from the Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, and was ...

, ''Double or Nothing''. Boulevard, 1995. . * Walton, Barbara E., ''Odyssey''. Boulevard, 1996. . * Peel, John, ''Independence''. Boulevard, 1996. . Re-published in the U.K. as ''Leap into the Unknown''. Boxtree Ltd., London 1996 . * Storm, L. Elizabeth, ''Angels Unaware''. Boulevard, 1997. . * Davis, Carol, ''Obsessions''. Boulevard, 1997. . * Schofield, Sandy (

Dean Wesley Smith Dean Wesley Smith (born November 10, 1950) is an American writer of science fiction, mystery, and fantasy. Smith has published nearly 200 novels and hundreds of short stories. Smith has also written novels for licensed properties such as '' St ...

and

Kristine Kathryn Rusch Kristine Kathryn Rusch (born June 4, 1960) is an American writer and editor. She writes under various pseudonyms in multiple genres, including science fiction, fantasy literature, fantasy, Mystery fiction, mystery, Romance novel, romance, and m ...

), ''Loch Ness Leap''. Boulevard, 1997 . * Kent, Melanie, ''Heat Wave''. Boulevard, 1997 . * DeFilippis, Christopher, ''Foreknowledge''. Boulevard, 1998 . * Peterman, Mindy, ''Song And Dance''. Boulevard, 1998 . * Davis, Carol, and Esther D. Reese: ''Mirror's Edge''. Boulevard, 2000 .

Comics

Innovation Publishing Innovation Publishing (also known as Innovation Books and the Innovative Corporation) was an American comic book company based in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was co-founded by David Campiti in 1988 after writing a business proposal and raising US ...

produced a series of comic books that ran for 13 issues from September 1991 through August 1993. As with the television series, each issue ended with a teaser preview of the following issue and Sam's exclamation of "Oh, boy." Among the people into whom Sam found himself leaping in this series were: Few of the comic stories referenced episodes of the television series, with the exception of the ninth issue, "Up Against a Stonewall".

Continuation

Proposed films

Television film

In July 2002, the

Sci-Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launc ...

(which at the time was airing reruns of the show) announced development of a two-hour

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

based on ''Quantum Leap'' that would have served as a

backdoor pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

for a new series, with Bellisario as executive producer.

Feature film

In July 2010 during the ''TV Guide'' panel at the

San Diego Comic-Con International San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...

, Scott Bakula said that Bellisario was working on a script for a projected ''Quantum Leap''

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

. Bellisario confirmed in October 2017 at the

L.A. Comic Con L.A. Comic Con is a three-day multi-genre convention"Comic-Con vs. ...

that he had finished the script.

Revival

In January 2020, Jeff Bader, NBC's head of program planning and strategy, announced that the network was considering a reboot of ''Quantum Leap'' for the launch of its

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

streaming service. In January 2022, NBC greenlit a pilot episode of a ''Quantum Leap'' sixth season revival. Bellisario is involved, while the showrunners include Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt, with Deborah Pratt and

Martin Gero Martin Gero (born July 6, 1977 in Geneva, Switzerland) is a Canadian screenwriter and co-executive producer for ''Stargate Atlantis'' and the creator of '' Blindspot''. Born in Switzerland, Gero spent much of his childhood in Ottawa, Ontario ...

as executive producers. The pilot will take place 30 years after the conclusion of the original series, with a new team reviving Project Quantum Leap to understand both it and the fate of Sam Beckett. Raymond Lee was signed to star in the pilot in the role of Dr. Ben Song, the person that ends up traveling back in time through the Quantum Leap project.

Ernie Hudson Earnest Lee Hudson (born December 17, 1945) is an American actor. His roles include Winston Zeddemore in the ''Ghostbusters'' film series, Sergeant Darryl Albrecht in ''The Crow'' (1994), and Warden Leo Glynn on HBO's '' Oz'' (1997–2003). Hu ...

was cast as Herbert "Magic" Williams, the lead of the new Quantum Leap program and a Vietnam War veteran whom Sam leaped into in the

season three A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

episode "The Leap Home (Part 2) – Vietnam". NBC gave the green light for a full season order in May 2022. In July 2022, it was announced that Dean Georgaris joined as showrunner. It premiered on September 19, 2022, airing on Monday nights. In September 2022, original series star

confirmed that he had been asked by producers to reprise his role as Sam Beckett in the revival, but ultimately decided to not be involved with the new series, saying in a statement on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

, "As the show has always been near and dear to my heart, it was a very difficult decision to pass on the project".

In popular culture

In the 2019 film '' Avengers: Endgame,''

Scott Lang Ant-Man (Scott Lang) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by David Michelinie, Bob Layton and John Byrne, Scott Lang first appeared in '' The Avengers'' #181 (March 1979) and in ''Mar ...

brings the show up as one of many examples of time travel in fiction allowing one to change one's own past, contrasting

Bruce Banner The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of '' The Incredible Hulk'' (May 1962). In his comic book a ...

's explanation that time travel works differently in their universe. ''

Source Code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...

'', a 2011

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...

action thriller film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

, was directed by

Duncan Jones Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones (born 30 May 1971) is a British film director, film producer and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the films ''Moon'' (2009), ''Source Code'' (2011), ''Warcraft'' (2016), and ''Mute'' (2018). For ''Moon'', ...

. Jones said in reading its script that he was reminded of ''Quantum Leap'' and as a reference to the show, cast Bakula in a voice cameo role, including giving him one line of "Oh, boy" in the script. Special episodes of ''

Star Trek: Enterprise ''Star Trek: Enterprise'', titled simply ''Enterprise'' for its first two seasons, is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. It originally aired from September 26, 2001, to May 13, 2005 on Uni ...

'' (" Detained", 2002) and '' NCIS: New Orleans'' (" Chasing Ghosts", 2014), both series that featured Bakula as lead, included Stockwell as a guest star to reunite the two actors from ''Quantum Leap''. Further, "Chasing Ghosts" was directed by

James Whitmore Jr. James Allen Whitmore III (born October 24, 1948), better known as James Whitmore Jr., is an American actor and director, best known for his roles as Captain Jim Gutterman on the television program '' Baa Baa Black Sheep'', Freddie Beamer in ''The ...

, who had directed 15 episodes, and acted in three episodes, of ''Quantum Leap''. The 2017 episode " The Gang Turns Black" of the series ''

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and developed by McElhenney and Glenn Howerton that premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and later FXX beginning with the ninth season in 2013. It stars Charlie ...

'' features numerous ''Quantum Leap'' references. When the gang finds themselves in different bodies, Sweet Dee suggests that they are "quantum leaping". Bakula has a guest appearance, as himself, supposedly researching an upcoming role, but in fact working as a retirement home custodian due to lack of residuals.

References

External links

* * *
Archive of Syfy ''Quantum Leap'' official site
with Bakula and Stockwell interviews. {{Authority control 1989 American television series debuts 1980s American drama television series 1980s American science fiction television series 1980s American time travel television series 1993 American television series endings 1990s American drama television series 1990s American science fiction television series 1990s American time travel television series Alternate history television series Edgar Award-winning works Emmy Award-winning programs American English-language television shows Fiction about body swapping Holography in television Innovation Publishing titles NBC original programming Television series about being lost from home Television series by Universal Television Television series created by Donald P. Bellisario Television shows set in New Mexico Television shows set in the United States NBC television dramas