Ghostbusters actor Ernie Hudson has joined the Quantum Leap reboot. Quantum Leap was a popular sci-fi, time-travel TV show on NBC that starred Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell, running for five seasons before being canceled. The show followed Bakula’s Dr. Sam Beckett, who created a technology that allowed him to jump back in time and take the place of someone else in order to “correct historical mistakes,” which drew him from adventure to adventure with all manner of historical figures, locations, and events. The show’s series finale is one of the most controversial ever, as it did not wrap things up with a simple happy ending, but left the final moments ambiguous and without a clear resolution.
Actor Raymond Lee was recently cast in the lead role of the Quantum Leap reboot, which is actually a continuation of the original series, picking up 30 years after the disappearance of Bakula’s Beckett. The follow-up show is written and executive produced by Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt, with Quantum Leap creator/EP Don Bellisario and EP/co-narrator Deborah Pratt serving as executive producers, along with Martin Gero. The premise follows the original show’s set-up as “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.”
According to Deadline, Hudson has joined the show as a co-lead, playing a Vietnam Vet named Herbert “Magic” Williams, the head of the time travel project at Quantum Leap, who works behind-the-scenes to help Dr. Ben Seong (Raymond Lee) when he gets “stuck in the late 1980s with amnesia” after using the Quantum Leap technology, repeating the same problem that afflicted Bakula’s character in the original show. In many regards, it appears that Hudson will be a similar figure to Stockwell’s Al in the original series, who acts as a friend and guide to Beckett throughout his journeys.
Hudson is best known as Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters franchise, most recently appearing in the latest effort for the series, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. The actor has appeared in a long string of projects throughout his career, however, including roles in The Crow, No Escape, Congo, as well as a massive amount of TV projects, from Oz to Desperate Housewives to Law & Order to Franklin & Bash to Grace & Frankie and most recently to City on a Hill. Hudson will next appear in The Retirement Plan with Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman
While the new Quantum Leap is being touted as a reboot, it’s actually a follow-up/continuation of the original series with new actors taking on similar roles, being part homage and part sequel. With the events of the original show still in play, it will be interesting to see if Bakula makes a cameo appearance, potentially resolving the controversial finale to the original series, which left Sam Beckett in the Quantum Leap limbo. Sadly, actor Dean Stockwell passed away in 2021, but the show will surely pay homage to him in some way as it paves the way for a new Quantum Leap for the next generation.
