NBC has ordered a new, second pilot for the new Quantum Leap series debuting this fall, an anonymous source attached to the show confirms.
These last 24 hours or so have been confusing for Quantum Leap fans. On Tuesday, The Hashtag Show reported details of the new pilot script and director, but the article did not acknowledge the original pilot shot in Vancouver in March and shown in the NBC upfront event earlier in May. Photos had been widely distributed from that pilot and the plot was revealed. Ben’s first leap had him landing in 1989 San Francisco moments before the historic earthquake that took place that October.
As The Hashtag Show reports, the new pilot involves a group of thieves planning to break into Smithsonian to steal the Hope Diamond. One of the thieves, however, has a very personal motivation: He is hoping to get money for a life-saving surgery for his wife. The article also dropped a major spoiler involving a couple of characters that we won’t reveal here, but will say is consistent with the draft of the San Francisco pilot we had the chance to read back in February.
Many of us reading the Hashtag article assumed this was actually the plot of the second episode. Last night, however, an anonymous source attached to the show confirmed with Al’s Place, the fan website, that NBC has, in fact, asked for a completely new pilot. Brian Greene shared this news with Fate’s Wide Wheel, the Quantum Leap Podcast, and The Star Bright Project.
Our gut reaction is a little trepidation at this news, but this will hopefully be a good thing for the new series in the end. There is certainly no shortage of examples of TV shows that had their pilots completely overhauled and reshot before their series debut. It’s likely the heist story was already planned for later in the season, and now it is simply being retooled and expanded to serve as the pilot. As far as we know, the entire original creative team is still attached to the show, both in front of and behind the camera. We’re hopeful NBC still has complete faith (of the heart) in the series, but wants to make it accessible as possible for viewers who are completely unfamiliar with the Quantum leap mythology.
As of now, there is no word whether the original pilot will officially be shown or released at any point.
And of course, still no official word as to Scott Bakula’s potential involvement.
Stay tuned, listeners.
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I commented about it in the Facebook group, but I truly hope this is a good thing despite my initial feeling that this is NBC’s way of trying to distance this new series from the original mythology. Still hoping for the best! 🤞
It is disconcerting to hear the original pilot was scrapped and a new one is shooting, but Star Trek reshot its pilot and 50 years later the franchise is going strong, so not necessarily a bad thing. If retooling cuts out the series’ heart though, then it’s very bad news. Series die from network tinkering.