Exclusive: ‘Quantum Leap’: Paramount+ UK Acquires Reboot/Continuation Series To Premiere In July
After something of an extended wait, the reboot/continuation of the beloved sci-fi drama ‘Quantum Leap‘ finally has a UK broadcaster, as we can exclusively reveal Paramount+ UK has picked up the series to premiere in July.
For those of you unfamiliar with 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.
This new iteration is a continuation of the original, whilst also something of a reboot. The series sees Raymond Lee (‘Kevin Can F**k Himself’) take the role of Dr. Ben Seong, a world-renowned physicist who has picked up the baton of the Quantum Leap project started by Bakula’s Dr. Beckett. It’s been 30 years since Sam 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.
Making up the rest of that new team are Ernie Hudson (‘Ghostbusters’) as Herbert “Magic” Williams, a Vietnam veteran and head of the time travel project at Quantum Leap. Using a bit of politicking and his military know-how to keep the Pentagon at bay, Magic buys the team some time to rescue Ben but expects answers once he’s back – On a side note: “Magic” is also a person Sam “jumped” into in the episode ‘The Leap Home: Part II’ of the original series; Nanrisa Lee (‘Bosch’, ‘The Morning Show’) as Jenn, head of security at Quantum Leap headquarters; Mason Alexander Park (‘Cowboy Bebop’, ‘The Sandman’) as Ian, chief architect of Quantum Leap’s AI program; And newcomer Caitlin Bassett as Addison, project lead at Quantum Leap HQ who operates state-of-the-art technology to communicate with an individual time travelling in the past.
This version of ‘Quantum Leap’ comes from Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt, co-showrunners of NBC series ‘La Brea’ (which also airs on Paramount+ UK), who writes and exec produces, 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 in the original series.) The series is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.
The series has been renewed for Season 2.
‘Quantum Leap‘ Season 1 premieres Thursday, 13th July 2023 on Paramount+ UK. The first 9 episodes will drop together.
How to get Paramount+ In The UK
Paramount+ is a global digital subscription video streaming service from Paramount that features a mountain of premium entertainment for audiences of all ages, with content from SHOWTIME, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and the Smithsonian Channel, in addition to a robust offering of premiere local content.
To get Paramount+ in the UK, you have a number of options. Firstly, if you are a Sky TV customer with a Sky Cinema subscription, you already can get Paramount Plus is available at no extra cost! You can also get the service separately for £6.99 a month, either as a Prime Video add-on channel, via their website, or via apps on Apple, Android, and Roku, along with some Samsung and LG smart tvs, or via Sky, with a 7-day free trial.
