Warning: This article contains spoilers for Quantum Leap episode 1.NBC’s Quantum Leap relaunch has introduced a mystery character named Janice, played by Georgina Reilly. 30 years ago, the original Quantum Leap series came to a cliffhanger ending. It revealed Dr. Sam Beckett, a time traveler who leaped from one body to another correcting mistakes and problems, would never return home. Indeed, the final episode actually suggested Dr. Beckett’s adventures were destined to get even more dangerous.
NBC has finally brought this cult TV series back, with a whole new cast – but from the outset it’s clear this is no reboot. Quantum Leap episode 1 immediately makes it abundantly clear the modern Quantum Leap project is inspired by Dr. Beckett’s experiments, although the team believed they’d corrected the error in coding that meant Sam wound up trapped and leaping from body to body. They reckoned without Dr. Ben Song, their chief scientist, who has his own agenda. He activated the project prematurely, and soon wound up in 1985, trying to abort the attempted theft of the Hope Diamond. Dr. Song’s motives are a mystery – including to the scientist himself, who’s now experiencing post-leap amnesia as a side effect of the time travel. He has an accomplice in the present day, however, who could provide a major clue.
The accomplice has been identified as Janice Calavicci, the daughter of Al Calavicci – Sam Beckett’s best friend and a key player in the original Quantum Leap project. It seems Janice wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps, attempting to push her way into the relaunched initiative, but the Department of Defense had concerns about her emotional ties to Al and Sam. Refusing to take no for an answer, Janice has instead allied with Ben Song. She seems to be responsible for new coding that Ben installed into Ziggy, the supercomputer running the leaps.
How Janice Is Tied To The Original Quantum Leap
Janice seems to be tied to the cliffhanger ending of the original Quantum Leap series. Apparently her father Al died last year (in the real world, actor Dean Stockwell – who played the part – sadly did pass away in 2021); Janice is wearing a commemorative ring he was given during his tour in Vietnam. This tour was a key event in Al’s life, because he left the love of his life to serve in Vietnam and was believed killed in action; his wife remarried, believing him dead. The timeline was rewritten by Sam Beckett, with Quantum Leap‘s final episode giving him a chance to tell Al’s wife he was still alive. Janice likely only exists because of the Quantum Leap project, and it’s possible she’s simply trying to return a favor and get Sam back.
The end of Quantum Leap episode 1 sent Ben on another mission, this time to an incident surrounding the Atlantis shuttle. In the meantime, it’s clear the security team at the project will continue trying to figure out why all this is happening, and their attention will be focused on finding Janice as quickly as possible. Hopefully Quantum Leap episode 2 will answer some of the mysteries surrounding the character.
Episodes of Quantum Leap release on NBC on Mondays at 10.00 PM ET.
