Quantum Leap Sequel Gets Series Order at NBC
It should come as no surprise that one of the first TV series orders for the upcoming season goes to an existing IP. A sequel to the classic Quantum Leap series has been in the works at NBC, with a pilot ordered back in January and production on that initial episode recently wrapping. On Thursday, NBC made the call to move forward, officially ordering the Quantum Leap sequel to series, confirming that more episodes will be films and the series is coming to TV next season.
The series comes from La Brea creative duo Steve Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt, who previously worked on Alcatraz and God Friended Me. Original series creator Don Bellisario is executive producing the sequel alongside Lilien and Wynbrandt, Deborah Pratt, and Martin Gero.
NBC's new Quantum Leap follows a team that has been tasked with restarting the Quantum Leap project, hoping to find answers about Dr. Sam Beckett, the man that built it three decades prior. The original series starred Scott Bakula as Beckett, who used the Quantum Leap machine to leap into the bodies of people in the past.
Raymond Lee plays the lead character in the new Quantum Leap, starring alongside Caitlin Bassett, Ernie Hudson, Mason Alexander Park, and Nanrisa Lee. There have been talks regarding Scott Bakula reprising his role as Sam Beckett at some point in the series, but nothing has materialized just yet.
"That show is very special to me, obviously, so I would wish whoever did it luck," Bakula told TVLine last year. "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," he added. "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."
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