We are fast approaching the premiere of the newQuantum Leapseries that debuts on NBC on Sept. 19, 2022. The new series is set 30 years after the conclusion of the original show which ended with Scott Bakula’s Dr. Sam Beckett never finding his way back home. Raymond Lee stars as Dr. Ben Song, the protagonist who similarly leaps from one body into another as Dr. Beckett had before him, alongside Caitlin Bassett as his holographic partner Addison, a character similar to late actor Dean Stockwell’s Al in the original show.
One direction the reboot could have gone in would have been to go with a complete remake, reimagining Dr. Sam Beckett and Al with new actors in the roles attempting to recreate the chemistry between Bakula and Stockwell. Instead, the show’s creative team chose to revisit the originalQuantum Leapworld, evenwithout the involvement of Bakula. In a new interview withTVLine, showrunner Martin Gero explained that it was very clear from the start that recasting Sam would have been a bad idea, leading to the idea of doing a sequel series with original characters.
“Everyone felt like the original show was so iconic, it would be crazy to cast a new Sam and a new Al and just start again. We would never be able to recapture the magic of those two characters, so to be able to do something totally new but in the same space — creating as a sequel more than a reboot — that just made sense to the entire creative team.”
Raymond Lee added that his character is still a spiritual successor to Sam.
“Ben is [Sam’s] spiritual successor. He must have seen what Sam Beckett did and the algorithm that he wrote and got really excited about the fact that [Sam] was able to step into the accelerator and make a leap, and [Ben] was probably inspired by that. And at some point, he joined the project to get involved with something of that nature.”
Related:Could the Quantum Leap Reboot Connect to the Stargate Franchise?
The Buddy Dynamic Has Been Replaced With a Romantic Relationship
One key difference in the two differentQuantum Leapshows will be the relationships between the leapers and their holographic partners. Lee explained how it would have been a fool’s errand to try and recreate the buddy comedy between Sam and Al, so in the new series, the relationship Ben has with Addison is more on the romantic side.
“Al and Sam, they had an incredible chemistry — [a] bromance for the ages — and we’d be silly to try to recreate something like that. Also, it’s a different time. Buddy comedies are great, but why not see a romance instead of a bromance? I think this is a great opportunity to dive into different dynamics of what these leaps can feel like, especially if there’s more at stake than just a friendship.”
The newQuantum Leapis set to premiere on NBC on Sept. 19, 2022.
