Quantum Leap Reboot: Scott Bakula Comments on Possible Return

Quantum Leap is a classic sci-fi television series with a controversial ending. After five seasons of 97 total episodes from 1989 through 1993, series lead Sam Beckett, played by Scott Bakula, did not make the leap home. Instead, he visited the timeline of his friend and companion Al Calavicci (Dean Stockwell) to rewrite his tragic history. Bakula has more recently starred in NCIS: New Orleans, but with that show coming to an end — and Sam still stuck leaping through history — could a Quantum Leap revival series happen? Bakula is all for it, suggesting he’d be willing to sign up if given the opportunity.

“That show is very special to me, obviously, so I would wish whoever did it luck,” Bakua tells TV Line. “I mean, the idea of walking in another man or woman’s shoes is so relevant and so important right now. We’ve become so divided in our world that the ability to cross that line of politics and just deal with the humanity and the individual person who’s sharing a moment on the planet with you is really relevant.

“There was also a quaintness about the show, because it had this period feel because Sam traveled anywhere within his own lifetime. That made it feel a little old fashioned, but I would hope that they get the truth of it and the sentiments of it right, and not try and make it slick. Sam was this naïve kid who just happened to be a brilliant scientist who stumbled on something and all of a sudden was thrown into all of these different lives and worlds and people and situations that he never could’ve imagined growing up in. I would just hope that they would try and keep that, but you know, I don’t know what they’ll do.”

One idea that’s been tossed around is to have Sam’s successor, possibly his child (Sam didn’t have one in the series, but he did get to leap back to visit his wife a couple of times), begin traveling through time to try to rescue Sam. “[T]here certainly is a child that could’ve come from any of those trips back,” Bakula says. “That’s one of the ideas, and it seems like a good idea. We all know that Sam’s still out there, and I always tell people that should be comforting — that he’s still out there fixing things that once went wrong.”

Would you watch a Quantum Leap reboot or revival? Let us know in the comments.