There might still be hope for our time-traveling hero.
Quantum Leap, the hit time travel TV show that ran from 1989 to 1993, ended on a sour note. After spending countless episodes trying to get back to his current time, Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) never ended up returning to the present. Well, creator Donald Bellisario and Bakula discussed that finale, while also talking about a feature-length script that has been written.
“I just finished writing a Quantum Leap feature,” Bellisario said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with it, but I did write it.” This means that while a script exists there has been nothing signed and there is no guarantee that this will actually happen, but at least Bellisario is still committed to the series. That’s a long time to be off the air and then to suddenly come back, but if an extreme example like Twin Peaks can happen, certainly Quantum Leap could happen in some format as well. It would be easier to imagine it could take the same shape as X-Files recent return to the airwaves, something short that could test the waters about whether the series still has any juice left in it.
Sam Beckett Leaping into a Baseball playerFor those unfamiliar with Quantum Leap, Sam Beckett was a physicist who time traveled into other people’s bodies in order to correct historical mistakes. He was joined by his friend, Admiral Al Calavicci (Dean Stockwell), who appeared to Sam as a hologram and provided emotional support. TV Guide named the series one of the top Cult Shows of all-time out ranking cult hits such as Firefly and Twin Peaks.
When they were asked by EW at L.A. Comic Con this past weekend about the finale, both men seemed extremely pleased with how Quantum Leap left off. Bakula said of the finale:
“It was a great episode. Last episodes are always controversial. I always say to writers, ‘If you want a challenge more than writing just an hour of television, write an hour of television that is the last hour of television that that show will ever have on; write it so that it could also come back next fall; write it so that it could possibly become a movie of the week; [and] write it so that it could still potentially be a feature film someday. And make everybody happy… If you go back and watch that episode, [Bellisario] checked off all those boxes.”
Maybe by leaving the finale so open-ended, Bellisario and Bakula might’ve left room for network suits to consider returning to the franchise. Whether or not the feature actually happens is another thing altogether, but there would certainly be room in this television landscape for more adventures of Sam Beckett.
Related Topics: Quantum Leap, Sci-Fi
