LOS ANGELES — It's been nearly 30 years since the character Sam Beckett made his last leap back in time for the original NBC series, "Quantum Leap." Now a new group has been tasked with restarting the project and the show itself.
"Essentially, it's 30 some odd years after Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the quantum accelerator and vanished forever," said actor Raymond Lee. "And now a new team has been assembled to uncover the mysteries behind the project Quantum Leap, and the leaper, the original leaper himself, and I am now the successor to the original leaper."
Lee plays doctor Ben Song, a physicist who, like Beckett in the original series, surprises his team by making an unplanned leap. It's those similar scenarios plus some new ones, Lee says old fans and new viewers will appreciate.
"Even just the Easter eggs and character connections alone will be enough for the original fans to see but what they're gonna get is a whole lot of action and an entire world of the quantum leap headquarters that they perhaps might not have been expecting to see. And it's a very fast-paced show. It's much more accelerated than the original and a lot has happened in the past 30 some odd years."
For Lee, getting the chance to take over a different stranger's body each week on the show is an actor’s dream.
"I like to say this, that it's the roles of a lifetime. In every role that I leap, I get to check off an item on the actors’ bucket list. I've always wanted to play a boxer; I've always wanted to be in space. And I've already gotten to do that in the first three episodes. So, everything that continues to reveal itself to me is such a treat."
So where in time would the new star of the series go if he had his choice?
"It is the early 2000s. Because time was simpler than. And I feel like I just didn't have to worry about as much and I just missed that. I missed that feeling."
30 years may have passed, but NBC hopes viewers are still willing to make the leap.
The "Quantum Leap" reboot premieres Monday, Sept. 19 at 10:00 p.m. on KING 5.
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