Turn off the accelerator: NBC has canceled its Quantum Leap reboot after two seasons. The network decided not to renew the science fiction series for a third season, bringing the adventures of Dr. Ben Song (Raymond Lee) to a close.
It’s disappointing, if not unsurprising news given Quantum Leap‘s ratings and the challenges of our current television landscape. The series was a revival of the 1989 Quantum Leap, which starred Scott Bakula as physicist Dr. Sam Beckett, who travels through time, “leaping” into other people’s bodies to correct past wrongs. Sam is guided by Al (Dean Stockwell), his best friend who appears to him as a hologram. The series ran for five seasons before ending in 1993.
The new Quantum Leap followed the original’s time-traveling adventures, this time led by Dr. Ben Song (Lee), who updates the accelerator and is launched back into time. Instead of working with his friend, Ben is guided by his fiancée Addison Augustine (Caitlin Bassett). Unfortunately, Ben loses his memories of Addison upon his first leap.
Lee and Bassett paid tribute to the show on their social media accounts. Lee posted on Instagram, “We’re so proud of the show we made and more proud of the stories we got to tell. And selfishly for me I got to make some really awesome friends along the way.” He ended his post writing, “if and when another groups gets a hold of the accelerator and its capabilities, may they find us floating in time, still striving to put right what once went wrong.”
Bassett posted on her Instagram, writing “So sorry to say… farewell leapers. Thank you so much for every moment of this amazing journey. And thank you @nbc and @universaltv for the ride of a lifetime. As the wonderful QL super-fan Matt Dale said – “be excellent to each other”.
(featured image: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)
