The 'Quantum Leap' Reboot Picks up Decades After the Ending to the Original Series

In an age where studios value nostalgia and established brands to produce content, we can expect them to produce reboots of classic sci-fi series every so often. For NBC, shows like Bionic Woman in 2007 and Knight Rider in 2008 attempted to revive and modernize popular shows from the 1970s and 1980s. For the record, neither reboot lasted for more than a season.

But that won't stop the nostalgia train from trying to get reboots to stick. In 2022, we have Quantum Leap.

The new series follows Ben Song (Raymond Lee), a physicist tasked with restarting the titular "Quantum Leap" project to try and perfect time travel. After traveling to the distant past for an unknown purpose, he arrives with no memories and occupies someone else's body. With the guidance of Addison (Caitlin Bassett) who communicates with him via hologram, Ben leaps across time trying to help people and unlock the mystery within his missing memories.

The show is a continuation of the original series, but how did it end?

Unlike most reboots that kick off the story from the very beginning, the new Quantum Leap acts as the sixth season of the original show.

The first Quantum Leap debuted in March 1989 and lasted for five seasons until May 1993. It follows physicist Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula). After a time travel experiment gone wrong, Sam is forced to travel across the 20th century through the bodies of other people. He attempts to correct mistakes in the timeline in order to find a way back to his original era.

Unfortunately, the Season 5 finale doesn't exactly end on a wholly happy note. During this leap, Sam ends up in a mining town on the exact date and hour that he was born. He encounters several people he recognizes from previous leaps. Sam discovers that he can control his own leaps and could return home at any point. But instead of returning home, he decides to revisit Beth (Susan Diol), the wife of his close friend Al (Dean Stockwell).

Having believed her husband to have died as a prisoner of war, Beth learns from Sam that Al is alive. The timeline changes drastically, creating an existence in which Al and Beth remain lovers and raise a family together. A title crawl reveals that Sam hasn't returned home and the ramifications that Sam's actions have on his first-ever meeting with Al are never fully explained.

While not exactly a cliffhanger ending, the original Quantum Leap left fans with a rather ambiguous conclusion. But that might all change with the new series.

The Quantum Leap revival takes place 30 years after the events of the original series. While Scott Bakula is reportedly not attached to the new series in any way, we can certainly expect the revival to include several nods to its predecessor.

The new Quantum Leap premieres at 10 p.m. EST on NBC.