‘Quantum Leap’ Reboot Pilot Ordered By NBC
Oh boy… After years of rumours and chatter, NBC has placed a pilot order for a reboot(ish) of the beloved sci-fi series ‘Quantum Leap’ it has been announced.
For those of you who haven’t come across the original series, it starred Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physicist working on a government experiment into time travel. When the government threaten to cut his funding, Sam takes drastic action, stepping into the Quantum Leap Accelerator, vanishing from the present day, and becoming trapped in the past. However, he isn’t in his own body but has “leapt” into the body of someone else. Aided by a hologram of his friend Admiral Al Calavicci (played by Dean Stockwell) and the project’s supercomputer Ziggy (voiced by Deborah Pratt), he soon discovers the only way to move time periods is to correct something that went wrong in that person’s life, allowing him to “leap” into another random body and time, hoping his next leap will be the leap home.
The official logline for this new version reads “It’s been 30 years since Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. Now a new team has been assembled to restart the project in the hopes of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it.”
This new iteration comes from Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt, co-showrunners of NBC series ‘La Brea’, who will write the pilot and exec produce, with ‘Blindspot’ creator Martin Gero also exec producing. Original ‘Quantum Leap’ creator/EP Don Bellisario also exec produces alongside original EP Deborah Pratt (who also provided the voice for Ziggy.)
“This has been a very hard secret to keep, commented Gero in a Tweet. “Thrilled that our friends at NBC have given us the chance to bring this phenomenal show back and continue the story! Can’t wait for you all to see what we have in store…”
There have been a lot of rumours over the years about potentially reviving the series, but there had been a number of issues with the rights to the show. Those seem to have finally been worked out, and NBC has ordered the pilot. Bakula himself is not currently attached, however, they have had discussions with him about returning in some way. Dean Stockwell sadly passed away, aged 85, in November last year. Assuming they do manage to get Bakula on board, that does suggest this may be more of a continuation rather than a straight-up reboot, but we’ll have to see.
The pilot is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, with Lilien and Wynbrandt exec producing for their I Have an Idea! Entertainment, Bellisario for his Belisarius Productions and Gero via his Quinn’s House Productions.
We should stress, ‘Quantum Leap’ has only been ordered for a pilot right now, so may not go anywhere, but we’ll let you know if and when we hear more!
