Quantum Leap sequel pilot greenlit by NBC!

alsplacebartender

Al's Place Bartender
Staff member
This looks promising!

From Hollywood Reporter and confirmed by Deborah Pratt:


The possible return of Quantum Leap is taking a big step forward at NBC. The network has greenlit the sequel pilot to the 1989 time-travel adventure-drama that ran for five seasons on the network.

The synopsis reads, “It’s been 30 years since Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) 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.”

The description makes it sound like original series star Bakula is on board. Nothing is official, but per sources, the actor may be involved.

In September, Bakula teased “significant conversations”about a revival were happening. “There’s very significant conversations about it right now going on,” said Bakula, who played a physicist who involuntarily time travels and fixes mistakes of the past by leaping into the bodies of others. “I don’t know what it would be. I don’t know who would have it. The rights were a mess for years. I don’t know if they’re even sorted out now. That’s always been the biggest complication.”

Creator Don Bellisario is on board for the revival as executive producer. Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt (Gotham) are showrunners. Deborah Pratt and Martin Gero are also executive producers. The project is for series consideration next year and produced by Universal Television.
 
YAY!!!! I’ve read several articles today about the reboot!! Sad that they waited too long for what we all wanted - Dean and Scott. Hopefully Scott will be involved!
 
Finally. Though extremely bittersweet that it is announced 2 months after Dean Stockwell’s death. It’s been fairly well known that he had not been in good health since his stroke in 2015. Any rumors of a revival since than I always assumed would not involve him. He is a big hole to fill. I hope they find a way of paying tribute to him and the character of Al.

I am thrilled that Don and Deborah are involved. The rumors that delayed this so long was it it involved who owned the rights. I suspect there was no way this would happen without BOTH of them. Hopefully they have real involvement. That she was so quick to confirm shows they probably are. Television series require many writers. It would be fantastic if they write scripts for this.
 
Long overdue and indeed great news.

My only hope is they do not go down the route of scripting episodes with pc culture in mind, the magic of the original series needs to be retained very much like the highly successful COBRA Kai series which is the best thing on stream services or good old TV.
 
Long overdue and indeed great news.

My only hope is they do not go down the route of scripting episodes with pc culture in mind, the magic of the original series needs to be retained very much like the highly successful COBRA Kai series which is the best thing on stream services or good old TV.
Every episode of the original Quantum Leap was either a morality play or dealt with social issues. Racism. Sexism. Abuse. Bigotry. Homophobia. It would be kinda weird if the new show didn't touch on those issues.
 
Agreed, since most of Sams leaps were in his own lifetime in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s so those social issues were prominent. What I meant to say is for the writers not to write it all PC.
 
Every episode of the original Quantum Leap was either a morality play or dealt with social issues. Racism. Sexism. Abuse. Bigotry. Homophobia. It would be kinda weird if the new show didn't touch on those issues.

Absolutely. Unlike Star Trek which used metaphors of aliens to present social issues in a slightly veiled way. Quantum Leap directly presented those issues with no pretenses of being anything else.

I do not understand how anyone could have watched the show and honestly missed it’s very specific moral and political perspectives.
 
This looks promising!

From Hollywood Reporter and confirmed by Deborah Pratt:


The synopsis reads, “It’s been 30 years since Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) 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.”

I think it'd be stupid to mention the star of the show Sam Becketts name in the synopsis and to not have its main star in the show. Just a really poor attempt from the producers to tease the audience and instill suspense.

I see it going like this, the new QL team keen to gain an understanding of the technology will be bumping around in time for a whole season when they finally stumble upon Sam as a season finale, its predictably cliche lol
 
I am looking forward to this! So much could be done here-when Sam gets back now he could be the observer for someone else. (A nod to Als role)
 
Al-

Are we talking QL for 2022 or 2023?

If it goes the same way as recent reboots of past shows i.e Picard , Cobra Kai I'm assuming filming wrapping up, post production, edits or reshoots can all be done and probably looking at releasing within a year 2023.
 
Dr. Sammy Jo Fuller...

... desperate to learn what became of her father herself Leaps back in an attempt to find him.... is what I'm rooting for. Scott may be involved, but I do not see him in a starring role. I could be wrong, of course. Perhaps he's Sammy Jo's hologram through some arrangement of happenings? Either way, I see this as a viable way to keep it fresh while still connected to what we remember... assuming Scott doesn't return as Sam altogether, which I'd be for over ANYTHING else.
Sam_SammiJo.JPG


I remembered this forum from YEARS ago after I heard the news of the reboot on Jean-Pierre Dorleac's Twitter days ago. I looked to see if it was still in my bookmarks: yes it is, plus my logins all still work! I hope more return!

And wishing much success to the new TV endeavor!
 
Honestly what i want to see is Sammy Jo as the observer and one of Al's daughters as the Leaper. if it was 10 years ago i would have wanted Amy Acker to play Sammy Jo.
 
... desperate to learn what became of her father herself Leaps back in an attempt to find him.... is what I'm rooting for. Scott may be involved, but I do not see him in a starring role. I could be wrong, of course. Perhaps he's Sammy Jo's hologram through some arrangement of happenings? Either way, I see this as a viable way to keep it fresh while still connected to what we remember... assuming Scott doesn't return as Sam altogether, which I'd be for over ANYTHING else.
Sam_SammiJo.JPG


I remembered this forum from YEARS ago after I heard the news of the reboot on Jean-Pierre Dorleac's Twitter days ago. I looked to see if it was still in my bookmarks: yes it is, plus my logins all still work! I hope more return!

And wishing much success to the new TV endeavor!








The problem now would be that Sammi Jo was born in 1967. If the show jumps 30 years, it will be set in 2029. That puts Sammi Jo as 62 years old for the continuation. I think that would be too old. But Sammi could have a son or daughter about 30 to 35 years old.

Sam's Grandchild, that could be interesting. I am picturing Emma Stone as the new leaper. She is Funny, can do drama, and has done action in the past. I would love that.
 
Honestly what i want to see is Sammy Jo as the observer and one of Al's daughters as the Leaper. if it was 10 years ago i would have wanted Amy Acker to play Sammy Jo.


I wanna see it as Sam's Granddaughter. Sammi Jo could have had a daughter that would be like 30 to 35 in the revival. And I picture Emma Stone in the role.
 
I have huge doubts about using Sammi Jo as a central character. Try explaining who she is and how she is Sam’s daughter to anyone who has not seen the full Trilogy of episodes. It’s too complicated and contrived. Only us, the most devoted fans know and remember her. QL had a lot of casual fans who remembered the basics but not her.

20 years ago a Pilot script was written staring Sammi Jo. To keep her younger it completely rewrote her backstory with no explanation. Just that she was conceived during the third episode instead... if my memory is right . That would have bothered most of us.

I think there are ways of including her in a smaller role. As an acknowledgement to us fans.
But for a lead character Sam and Donna could have had kids. That is a lot easier to understand without lots of complicated backstory.

I hope they bring back as many actors and actress from the original series as possible. That is the trend these days. Even just as guest stars. Susan Diol who played Beth still acts. David Newsom as Tom Beckett. Be amazing to see him in makeup to play an older Tom in present day.

Who to play Donna? I remember fans assuming Teri Hatcher was too busy to reprise the part in Leap Back. It was probably just her age. She was cast to play Donna in college, so much younger than Scott. Mimi Kuzyk is actually 2 years older than Scott. I would be fine with Mimi returning. But I am huge Teri Hatcher fan.
 
I have huge doubts about using Sammi Jo as a central character. Try explaining who she is and how she is Sam’s daughter to anyone who has not seen the full Trilogy of episodes. It’s too complicated and contrived. Only us, the most devoted fans know and remember her. QL had a lot of casual fans who remembered the basics but not her.

20 years ago a Pilot script was written staring Sammi Jo. To keep her younger it completely rewrote her backstory with no explanation. Just that she was conceived during the third episode instead... if my memory is right . That would have bothered most of us.

I think there are ways of including her in a smaller role. As an acknowledgement to us fans.
But for a lead character Sam and Donna could have had kids. That is a lot easier to understand without lots of complicated backstory.

I hope they bring back as many actors and actress from the original series as possible. That is the trend these days. Even just as guest stars. Susan Diol who played Beth still acts. David Newsom as Tom Beckett. Be amazing to see him in makeup to play an older Tom in present day.

Who to play Donna? I remember fans assuming Teri Hatcher was too busy to reprise the part in Leap Back. It was probably just her age. She was cast to play Donna in college, so much younger than Scott. Mimi Kuzyk is actually 2 years older than Scott. I would be fine with Mimi returning. But I am huge Teri Hatcher fan.

Actually you can interduce Sammy Jo very easily to new audience with a little V/O of her explaining who is Sam, What is the project and how she came to existence and got involved in the project. Though... Finding out the identity of her "real father" can be a side plot line in the few firsts episodes of the new show. However, I do think it will be a problem making Sammy Jo one of the main characters in the timeline of the new show. Maybe the "new Gooshi", but just as a returning guest star?

And... YES to Teri Hatcher!
 
The problem now would be that Sammi Jo was born in 1967. If the show jumps 30 years, it will be set in 2029. That puts Sammi Jo as 62 years old for the continuation. I think that would be too old. But Sammi could have a son or daughter about 30 to 35 years old.

Sam's Grandchild, that could be interesting. I am picturing Emma Stone as the new leaper. She is Funny, can do drama, and has done action in the past. I would love that.

If I were writing it, this is exactly what I would do. I've had the basic idea for Quantum Leap 2.0 in my head for many years now, and I was leaning toward having Sam's granddaughter being the main leaper and one of Al's grandchildren being the Observer (because let's face it, even if Dean were still alive, Al's character would be retired and too old to keep the Project going). It just makes the most sense to me to keep it within their families to maintain the "legacy." Hey, wait a minute...I DID write that Sam had a granddaughter named Isabella in The Virtual Seasons, and she was a redhead! :roflmao: (No, I'm not biased!) :p

I'm thinking of doing a video on my YouTube channel talking about what I hope to see from this pilot. I've mentioned in several Facebook posts that I'm cautiously optimistic about this, because we have heard news of a potential revival before and nothing came from it. (A Bold Leap Forward, anyone?) One "rule" I think they need to tweak would be to have the new leaper be able to leap within Sam's lifetime, not just their own. Obviously, the most logical way that could be done would be to have the new leaper be his descendant (just like how Sam leaped into his great-grandfather because they shared DNA). In my opinion, anything past the 90s isn't going to really "feel" that nostalgic or different. Every decade from the 50s through the 80s had a very distinct atmosphere (I'll even give you the 90s). But after that? To me, it all kind of blends together, the only real difference being advances in technology. I mean, look at the world now, a lot of popular culture revolves around reliving nostalgia from the 80s and the 90s. Going "retro" is big in the world now.

Then again, I'm saying this as someone born in 1976 who was a child of the 80s. I suppose people born in the late 90s might have a different perspective. :p
 
Anyone else see this? It’s a video Q & A with Donald Bellisario that posted in May 2021. It’s the most recent thing I have seen of him. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=764KR3TVMgs

It’s interesting to here how he wished to see QL revived. He talks about it as a hypothetical. But less than a year later and it’s happening. Who knows how much this reflects what we will see? He says he would stay as stand alone episodes. Not long story arcs. I hope that is true. So much of what made QL special was the variety. Too much of modern TV gets stuck repeating the same yearly story arc structure.

He also mentions Sammy Jo. Obviously he was asked a questioned about her. Curious if any of his comments are reflective of what we get.

Most of all I am thrilled to see he looks great! I hope he has a real active involvement in this revival.
 
Anyone else see this? It’s a video Q & A with Donald Bellisario that posted in May 2021. It’s the most recent thing I have seen of him. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=764KR3TVMgs

It’s interesting to here how he wished to see QL revived. He talks about it as a hypothetical. But less than a year later and it’s happening. Who knows how much this reflects what we will see? He says he would stay as stand alone episodes. Not long story arcs. I hope that is true. So much of what made QL special was the variety. Too much of modern TV gets stuck repeating the same yearly story arc structure.

He also mentions Sammy Jo. Obviously he was asked a questioned about her. Curious if any of his comments are reflective of what we get.

Most of all I am thrilled to see he looks great! I hope he has a real active involvement in this revival.

I watched that YouTube link vid a few months ago and it was good to see DPB still have that level of enthusiasm for one of his biggest creations, i hope with his involvement he keeps it to its original individual story premise.

Its a shame we lost Dean Stockwell end of 2021 but I'm pretty sure they can incorporate that into a storyline like they did in the original series i.e M.I.A, The Leap home part 2 and a Leap for Lisa.
 
It’s interesting to here how he wished to see QL revived. He talks about it as a hypothetical. But less than a year later and it’s happening. Who knows how much this reflects what we will see? He says he would stay as stand alone episodes. Not long story arcs. I hope that is true. So much of what made QL special was the variety. Too much of modern TV gets stuck repeating the same yearly story arc structure.
Don has it the right way in my opinion. Serialised TV is often times too much of a cheap gimmick where the writers are making it up from episode to episode. Episodic storytelling forces the writers to come up with something new each week.

I do hope Sammy Jo is incorporated into the reboot. The thing I'm a little wary of with DB's Ars Technica interview is he said if Season 6 had happened he didn't want the Evil Leapers to return. Having a reoccurring villain in the later seasons of the show was important in raising the stakes. To not explore the Evil Leapers more in the reboot when they was so much left unexplored is doing a disservice to the series.