An Interesting 'Quantum Leap' Theory Has Emerged Online

By Dustin Rowles | TV | December 8, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | December 8, 2023 |

There have been a couple of new scripted series that had been left in the can before the strikes (Found, The Irrational), but I believe that Quantum Leap is the only returning scripted television series on a broadcast network that did not have its season delayed.

It’s a feat more impressive than many may realize. In 2022, thirteen episodes of Quantum Leap were ordered to series, and writing and production for a fall premiere probably began around April or May 2022. After a few episodes had aired, NBC ordered an additional five episodes for the first season to bring the total to 18. Once production on the first season ended, the series took no break and immediately began working on the second season in anticipation of the strikes. At least eight episodes were written (before May 1, 2023) and shot (before July 14, 2023) before the strikes finally shut down the show.

In all, the cast and crew on Quantum Leap managed to produce 26 episodes between May 2022 and July 2023. The eight already-produced episodes will finally run out next week (on December 13th). There was a second season total order of 13 episodes, and the next five episodes went into production at the end of November. NBC hasn’t set a date yet for the Spring premiere, but I wonder if the network is considering adding additional episodes to the season two order? The series clearly runs like a well-oiled machine, and it’s impressive how decent the series has been over the course of the first 25 episodes.

In this week’s episode, “A Kind of Magic,” the show continues to work on its sense of humor, which is ironic considering that Ben leaped into a town outside of Salem in the late 17th century and confronted the possibility of being burned alive for being a witch. That’s what you get for saving someone’s life with CPR before CPR was invented. Along with two other women, Ben was weirdly able to escape being burned alive by using knowledge from the future to predict exactly when it would rain. The townspeople, experiencing a severe drought, are so excited for rain that I guess they don’t think there is any witchcraft involved in predicting the exact moment in which the rain will begin to fall. Irony!

Meanwhile, Ben is warming to Addison again after their split, and after a few episodes in which other characters acted as Ben’s hologram, he’s allowing Addison to return to that role. Ben, meanwhile, kissed Hannah — a physics professor he’s encountered on two leaps — in the previous episode, and it appears that she will return again for next week’s fall finale set in Egypt.

Ben’s intermittent relationship with Hannah and Addison’s relationship with Tom in the present world has elicited an interesting theory online. As we’ve been reminded several times, Tom’s first wife died of cancer. The theory suggests that Ben will leap into the body of Tom’s first wife (or someone close to her) and save her life, which would mean that he and Addison never get together, leaving Addison single again. I have no idea how that affects the timeline, Back to the Future-wise, but it’s a fun way to reunite the couple. I hope it doesn’t mean we lose Eliza Taylor’s Hannah anytime soon, however. She’s fantastic.

Final note: Brian Van Holt plays the guy leading the charge to burn the witches, and all I could think whenever he was onscreen was, “PENNY CAAAAAAAAN.” If you know, you know.