NBC’s upcoming Quantum Leap reboot is once again hitting us with the nostalgia train as Ernie Hudson, who starred in 90’s movie Ghostbusters is set to join the cast of the revived sci-fi series, according to Deadline.
Deadline report that Hudson is going to play brand-new character in the sci-fi show: Herbert ‘Magic’ Williams. Set in the present day, Herbert is described by Deadline as a Vietnam veteran who “uses a bit of politicking and his military know-how to keep the Pentagon at bay” while the team undergo their time-travelling mission. He is also described as the head of the time travel project at Quantum Leap.
The original Quantum Leap TV series starred Scott Bakula as Dr Sam Beckett, a physicist who is trying to find his way back home while his experimental time machine causes him to jump into people’s bodies throughout history. The show ended on a controversial cliff-hanger, with on-screen text revealing that Sam was never able to return home, but fans are hopeful that Beckett might make a re-appearance in the reboot series, although he doesn’t appear to be the main focus of the plot.
Instead, Raymond Lee will take centre stage as Dr Ben Seong, a physicist who gets stuck in the late 1980s with amnesia after using an experimental time machine (don’t they learn anything?). The plot looks set to centre on a team setting out to rescue Dr Seong, but in a synopsis provided to the Hollywood Reporter, it seems like Sam will still have an integral influence on the show, and may well appear further down the line.
“It’s been 30 years since Dr Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished,” the synopsis reads. “Now a new team has been assembled to restart the project in the hopes of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it.”
The pilot is reportedly being planned for 2023, and will air on NBC. Meanwhile, you can catch classical episodes of Quantum Leap on streaming services Apple TV Plus and Amazon Prime Video.