Quantum Leap boss on that emotional finale and what's in store for season 2
WARNING: This post contains spoilers from the Quantum Leap season 1 finale.
Dr. Ben Song's (Raymond Lee) journey is just getting started.
The determined time traveler saved Addison Augustine's (Caitlin Bassett) life in the time-hopping Quantum Leap finale, which was a doozy with three different timelines. First, Ben finally made it to the future to find Ian Wright (Mason Alexander Park) alone where he gets the code the team's young tech whiz will need to save the day. Then, Ben leaps into his own body back in 2018 on the exact day he goes on his first date with Addison, which is when she is supposed to die. That is all happening while the team in the present works with Ben to ensure they finish the mission, save Addison's life, and finally get Ben back home.
In the end, they save the day, but Ben does not return to the present like he's supposed to. "We knew that we were doing a season 2 pretty early, so it was not a situation where we had to create an ending that wraps it up just in case," showrunner Martin Gero tells EW. "He's still stuck on there and we have a really fun way to do season 2 that moves from that moment."
Below, Gero talks more about the big finale and how it sets up a season 2 that feels more like the original Quantum Leap series.
Ron Batzdorff/NBC Caitlin Bassett as Addison, Raymond Lee as Dr. Ben Song
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: We know Ben started leaping to save Addison. How does the secret being out change the show going into season 2, since the mystery drove the season?
MARTIN GERO: The show really lives or dies on the leaps. That's why people watch Quantum Leap. Although the serialized mythology is exciting, I think this year it started to eat up a lot of time in the storytelling. We want to take our incredible cast and give them the ability to do more, so for us closing the loop on the mythological questions, like why did he leap?, lets us have the serialized elements be more in the emotional space in season 2 as opposed to the heavy plot space. There's still going to be cliffhangers and all the stuff you love, but it's more centered on our actors.
Ben kisses Addison to change the start of their relationship, and he leaps. It's a wonderful moment, but should we be expecting to see any impact to their present as a result of what they changed?
No. It probably sped up their falling in love with each other, but it didn't seismically change the present as we know it.
Ziggy was used against the team. Can they trust the system moving forward?
The future threat has been eliminated and Martinez destroyed the accelerator after he left, so the bad guys can't do anything to mess with the team. It was a live feed for the people in the future to know what's going on. Now, they can use Ziggy in its full force.
Ian and Jen [Nanrisa Lee] have helped Ben on a case as holograms a few times. Any plans for more instances where people sub in for Addison more next season?
Definitely. There's more opportunities going into season 2 for people to be in the imaging chamber more regularly. They all have various degrees of expertise and life experience that can lend Ben a hand when he's in the past. That was always the plan, but we wanted to focus on the Ben and Addison relationship in the early part of the show, and now that's done. We can start to give air to more of these other characters as we flush them out.
What can you say about where Ben goes from here?
The leaps in season 1 felt semi-planned because Ben was essentially trying to use celestial navigation to get where he needed to go. Now, he's just lost, much like Sam Beckett was. The path he's on is a lot more random or in the hands of whatever unknown force guides the Quantum Leap program.
Trae Patton/NBC Raymond Lee as Dr. Ben Song, Mason Alexander Park as Ian
Is there a future for Janice on the show?
Right now she isn't in the first six episodes. It's very possible that we'll bring her back because we love Georgina Reilly. She is very much tied to the mythology of that first season and the new season has its own story we're trying to serve. But if there's an organic way to bring her back, we'd love to.
What can you share about other ways the original show will be incorporated?
We're always discussing ways to connect ourselves with the past because the show is a sequel and not a reboot. It's a continuation of the story. Our major concern is not incorporating in a way that's disrespectful to the show. We want to do them in ways that feel organic and we don't want to be self-referencing something that half the audience hasn't seen, but service the half that watched the original. It's a balancing act for us.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
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