Jordin Althaus/NBC
SPOILER ALERT! This story contains plot points from Tuesday's season finale of Quantum Leap on NBC.
The two-part finale of NBC's reboot of the popular 1990s sci-fi drama is neatly and engagingly packaged – meaning it could serve as a series finale if the drama doesn't air its third season.
Here, co-showrunners Martin Gero and Dean Georgaris talk about how long they've been planning the season two finale, why it was so important to show a massive butterfly effect, and what fans can expect if the series succeeds third season.
DEADLINE It feels like you designed this to potentially act as a series finale. Was that the plan?
Dean Georgeris Interestingly, we didn't actually design it as a series finale. The fact that Ben [Raymond Lee] and Addison [Caitlin Bassett] Being in the same physical space can feel like a sort of conclusion to the first part of their journey. But what we wanted to do for season two was tell a really emotional story with this incredible cast that we had. And the way we did it was to emotionally divide Ben and Addison, to separate them. When we got the early renewal for season two, we knew we wouldn't end it on a cliffhanger. We wanted to end it with the first scene of season three, and we would end it with the two characters together, but in a way that you would never have expected. And that kind of tells the audience, “Look at all the great places we can go.” So if it feels like an accomplishment to the audience, that's wonderful. It's the conclusion of part of the journey, but I think for us it serves as a starting point for the rest of the journey.
DEADLINE Quantum Leap is considered a bubble show. What is it like to sit on the bubble?
GERO I mean, look, I've never been on a show that wasn't in the bubble unless it was picked up a week after it aired. The business is constantly changing, and no matter how many episodes we've been through together in our careers, it's like we just endure it. That stuff is out of our control. What we can control is the show. What we can control is how the audience feels. We are ready and eager to do more.
GEORGARIS The new reality we are all getting used to is that it is no longer just about a review. It's not just about a number. There are multiple platforms. So the truth is, I think every showrunner and every showmaker, for the most part, lives a bubble existence. That's just part of it. And that's okay. As Martin said, that's really not our job. Our job is to entertain while we can.
DEADLINE When did you create these finale scripts? Was it before or after the strike?
MARTIN GERO It was after the strike, but we had everything set up, so to speak. We started releasing the show in December [of 2022], and one of the first things we do is always talk about what the finale will be. So we had already written the first eight episodes and had drafts for nine and ten [before they went out on strike]. When the strike was over, I wasn't so much like, “Okay, what do we do?” It was just about completing this plan that we had put in place at the end of 2022.
DEADLINE So you didn't feel like you wanted to change anything after the strike ended?
GERO No, we were so lucky. I mean, we really had a vision. It's satisfying for you to say that this might feel like a finale in some ways, because for us, each season should feel like a book in a series of novels that you really like. We never want the show to feel just mediocre. We want these seasons to have a beginning, a middle and an end. But to make this truly satisfying, you have to lay the groundwork in the early episodes. So once we lay the foundation, obviously things have some wiggle room, you move them around and tend to strengths and weaknesses. But we always knew this would be the finale.
DEADLINE So there wasn't an alternate episode that you explored or something else that you shot and didn't use?
GEORGARIS Nothing like that. We wrote a story that we knew we could tell in 13 episodes. We didn't know how the strike would affect our order, but we knew we had a complete story and were shockingly loyal to it.
DEADLINE You rely on your stories to be detailed so people can follow them. Was that always your first task?
GERO Yes, we always want a low entry barrier for everyone. Wherever you want to start broadcasting, we're here to help. And the great thing about Quantum Leap, both the old and new versions, is that it's closed storytelling. It's almost like an anthology TV show that just happens to have a serialized aspect. Obviously this new incarnation has a slightly more serialized version, but the jumps are the jumps. The Jumps are just great episodes of television, and they vary completely from week to week. So we know that a large portion of our audience watches each episode in order, but we also have a large portion of the audience that just says, 'Oh yeah, right. Quantum Leap is on, I'll stop by this week.'
DEADLINE: Where do Addison and Ben end up?
GERO It's pretty vague, but I think for us it's a bit like Europe, like World War II.
DEADLINE Question about the butterfly effect we saw in the finale. Was there one this big in previous episodes?
GERO That's huge, yes.
GEORGARIS The two things we were saving for were implementing the butterfly effect in a meaningful way and watching our characters we care about come back to life or change. The other thing was that we wanted Jeffrey, who was our biggest villain of our season, Gideon [James Frain]to experience how powerful it is to be the jumper. In other words, young Jeffrey helps Ben save a life, and that changes Jeffrey. And that's ultimately the DNA of the show from the start. It's a show that's fundamentally about hope, and it's about the profound impact of small acts of kindness. We want a character to be moved by the fact that doing good for the world is a very satisfying thing.
DEADLINE Have you pitched the third season to NBC yet?
GERO We didn’t make a long-form pitch. They know exactly what the shape is, and they approved our little epilogue moment with Ben and Addison, so they know where we're going. But no, we haven't done our big singing and dancing thing yet.
DEADLINE: Have you finished your song and dance?
GERO Oh, absolutely. We've been thinking about it since the strike was over, and after we kind of nailed down the number of episodes, we started thinking about and working on the third season.
DEADLINE So if there was another season, would we see Ben and Addison traveling together?
GERO Yes. We don't want to go into it too much, but definitely. This is the intended beginning.