Long rumored, NBC has started production on the pilot episode of the ‘Through Time’ reboot (‘Quantum Leap’), the science fiction series co-starring Scott Bakula and the late Dean Stockwell.
A reboot which is actually a kind of sequel set thirty years after the collapse of Dr. Sam Beckett (Bakula). Thus, we meet a new team that restarts the project in the hope of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it.
Quantum leap with those responsible for La Brea
The project features the creator of the original fiction, Don Bellisario as Executive Producer. But the script runs from the hand of Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt, co-showrunners of ‘La Brea’, another science fiction drama whose first season has been a success for NBC.
Let’s remember that ‘Through Time’ was issued between 1989 and 1993 following the adventures of Beckett, who jumped between different eras jumping into other people’s bodies and solving temporary wrongs guided by his colleague Al (Stockwell).
The series has been one of the greats of NBC Universal and its possible return has been around for years (in 2009 it seemed that SyFy had made some progress). However, complex rights issues have always been a headache to pull it off:
“Rights was a mess for years. I don’t know if they have even been resolved now. That’s always been the biggest impediment,” says Scott Bakula, who admitted to occasionally talking about a potential return with Bellisario: “He always told me, ‘I can’t write this without thinking of you and Dean.'”
Finally, there will be no Dean, but let’s not rule out the presence of Bakula in the series. At the moment, we insist, this is in the pilot phase. If we follow the traditional television cycle, this would be shot in early spring and we would know if we will finally have a series or not between April and May, with the upfronts corresponding. All if the pandemic circumstances allow it.