NBC has officially announced that the Quantum Leap reboot will undergo a few behind-the-scenes changes: Martin Gero, an executive producer for the show, will be stepping up as the series’ new showrunner, while Dean Georgaris will join the series as an executive producer. Gero’s predecessors, former showrunners Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt, will reportedly stay with Quantum Leap as executive producers.
Quantum Leap, produced by Universal Television for NBC, is a reboot of a 1989 TV series of the same name in which Dr. Samuel Beckett (Scott Bakula), who believes that time travel is scientifically possible, obtains government approval for a time travel-based research project that he calls “Quantum Leap.” Years pass as Beckett devotes his life to the project. Still, with progress on Quantum Leap beginning to stall, the government threatens to remove its funding from the project – under the threat of a shut-down, Beckett decides to test the portal himself and lands nearly thirty years in the past in the body of whoever he has “leaped” into. Beckett, along with his holographic best friend Al Calavici (Dean Stockwell), must travel through time and leap between different points in the later 20th century in a desperate attempt to get back to the right time.
The ‘Quantum Leap’ Reboot and Crew Changes
The new Quantum Leap reboot is set thirty years after Sam Beckett’s fated leap and subsequent disappearance. A new team of researchers headed by Dr. Ben Seong (Raymond Lee) has been brought in to revive the Quantum Leap project “in the hopes of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it,” according to Deadline. When Ben takes an unexpected and unauthorized leap into the machine, the rest of his team – including Herbert “Magic” Williams (Ernie Hudson), Ian Wright (Mason Alexander Park), who heads the AI unit known as “Ziggy,” and Jenn Chou (Nanrisa Lee) – must work overtime to find out what happened to him and where he went before it’s too late. Accompanying Ben through his leaps is decorated Army veteran Addison (Caitlin Bassett), who follows Ben in holographic form, much like Al did for Sam in the original series.
The Quantum Leap reboot was first announced in May 2022, and Martin Gero (Blindspot) has reportedly been involved in the series since it was in the early stages of development. However, Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt – the series’ showrunners and the writers behind the show’s pilot episode – have stepped down and, despite remaining on the project as executive producers alongside Don Bellisario and Deborah Pratt (both original Quantum Leap alums), have been replaced by Martin Gero and newcomer Dean Georgaris (The Meg). According to TVLine, the exact reasons behind the crew change-ups are currently unclear, and NBC has declined to comment on the matter, but a likely cause might be the show’s tight production schedule, stating that “there has been buzz about ‘scripts being late.’”
Quantum Leap, starring Raymond Lee and produced by Universal Television, will premiere on NBC on September 19th, 2022, at 10/9c.