Alright ‘NCIS: New Orleans’ Fans — Here’s What Scott Bakula Says About a ‘Quantum Leap’ Re-Boot Once and For All
Fans can’t get enough of Scott Bakula. Whether it’s his portrayal of Dwayne Pride on NCIS: New Orleans, or his Star Trek: Enterprise days, people want more Bakula, however they can get him. This is especially true of Bakula’s hit show, Quantum Leap. Since the show ended, fans around the world have demanded a reboot. Will it ever happen? Heres the scoop, according to Bakula and Quantum Leap insiders.
‘Quantum Leap’ aired 30 years ago
Many know the NCIS: New Orleans star, Scott Bakula, from his hit sci-fi series, Quantum Leap. Bakula played Dr. Sam Becket for five seasons after its launch in the late ’80s. Bakula hopped into a different person’s body each week, paving the way for more genre-bending TV like Dr. Who and the X-Files.
Bakula previously said his Quantum Leap holographic AI costar, Dean Stockwell, became his acting mentor. All 97 episodes cemented Bakula in TV history earning him a Golden Globe in 1992 for “Best Performance by an Actor in a TV series – Drama,” according to his IMDb page.
Since the show ended in 1993, Bakula and his former cast have appeared at numerous Comic Conventions, still talking about the show’s influence and popularity, 30 years later.
That said, many fans want to know if Bakula might ever reprise his role in the hit series.
Will there be a ‘Quantum Leap’ reboot?
In a previous interview with Variety, Bakula said series creator, Donald Bellisario, had a reboot of Quantum Leap in the works. But there’s a catch: it likely won’t involve Bakula as the lead.
“[Don] was talking about rebooting it a while ago, where it’d be about Sam’s daughter and she followed in his footsteps. I thought that was a pretty interesting way to do that, also,” he said.
“Or you could take it to another country and reboot it as a young female physicist in South America somewhere. The possibilities are endless. It still feels like a fresh idea.”
Bakula added that part of the show’s evergreen staying power is that the social issues are just as relevant today, meaning the role of Dr. Sam Beckect doesn’t have to be him.
“I think the beauty of the show is that you could plug in almost anyone,” he said.
Still, if there’s any version of Quantum Leap, Bakula also admitted he and Stockwell may have aged out of their previous roles but they’d be open to making appearances “somehow.”
The reboot of ‘Quantum Leap’ may come in an alternate form
Bakula may be onto something with the mention of a reboot. He first mentioned the idea way back in 2010 during the San Diego Comic-Con, but nothing came of it.
The good news, Bakula fans, is that talks of a reboot of sorts are circulating once again. According to BleedingCool.com, Bellisario announced at the 2017 Los Angeles Comic-Con he’d already written a Quantum Leap film script.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with it, but I did write it,” Entertainment Weekly reported. “I write things exactly the same way. I just start writing and I let them take me wherever it’s going to take me. I’m entertained the same way the audience is. So I just put Scott and Dean [Stockwell] in my head, kind of rebooted them, and went from there.”
OK, so while the details aren’t exactly clear, talks are happening. For now, enjoy all the Bakula you can handle when NCIS: New Orleans returns to CBS in February.
