QUANTUM LEAP sequel series greenlit

The Quantum Leap sequel has been formally greenlit for a first season by NBC.

The new series picks up thirty years after the events of the original show (which ran for five seasons from 1989 to 1993) and sees Raymond Lee playing Dr. Ben Seong, who steps into the revived Quantum Leap Accelerator after it is brought out of retirement. He is both continuing the original project of leaping into different people in various timeframes, putting things right where they originally went wrong. However, he also has a secondary mission: to track down the missing Dr. Sam Beckett, who vanished at the end of the original show's run. Scott Bakula, who played Sam in the original show, has reportedly been contacted with a view to potentially reprising his role at some point.

Seong is guided on his mission by Addison (Caitlin Bassett), who will likely serve in a similar role to Sam's helper "Al" in the original series, who was able to appear to him as a hologram only he could see or hear. Dean Stockwell, who played Al in the original series, sadly passed away last year, so will not return in the new series.

Additional castmembers include Ernie Hudson as Herbert "Magic" Williams (who appeared, with a different actor, in a single episode of the original series), Nanrisa Lee as the Quantum Leap head of security and Mason Alexander Park as the head of the AI program.

Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt are serving as writer-showrunners for the new series, with original Quantum Leap creator Don Bellisario serving as creative consultant and producer alongside original executive producer Deborah Pratt.

The show has completed filming its pilot and will likely be eyeing a late 2022/early 2023 debut on NBC and streaming service Peacock.

RIP Dean Stockwell

The news has sadly broken that veteran Hollywood actor and SFF screen legend Dean Stockwell as passed away at the age of 85. Stockwell is best-known to SF fans for his recurring roles on TV shows Quantum Leap and Battlestar Galactica, as well as his memorable turn in David Lynch's Dune.

Stockwell was born in Los Angeles in 1936 and grew up in a showbiz family: his father was a singer and actor who played the voice of Prince Charming is Disney's film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Thanks to his father's connections, Dean Stockwell became a child star, making his first screen appearance at the age of nine in The Valley of Decision (1945). Stockwell went on to enjoy a successful career as a child actor, appearing in films like Home Sweet Homicide (1946) and Song of the Thin Man (1947). Stockwell enjoyed doing comedy, but found his most successful roles were in dramas, so found himself typecast as a "serious kid," which he did not enjoy after a while. Stockwell achieved arguably his greatest success in this period playing the title role in Kim (1950), alongside Errol Flynn.

Stockwell took some time out to focus on education and his interest in music before resuming his acting career in the late 1950s. He achieved some critical success, such as co-winning the 1959 Cannes Film Award for Best Actor alongside Orson Welles and Bradford Dillman for Compulsion. His first SF-related role came in A Quality of Mercy, a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone.

Stockwell continued to work regularly in film and television, becoming a reliable and talented character performer. However, he had not become a leading man or breakout star despite his immense resume and critical acclaim, something he found depressing. In 1983 he moved to New Mexico with his second wife and considered a new career in real estate to pay the bills. However, he was recruited first by Wim Wenders to star in Paris, Texas and then David Lynch in Dune, where the played the role of Dr. Yueh. The role is crucial in the book but somewhat underdeveloped; Lynch's film version arguably fleshes out the character more successfully, thanks to Stockwell's measured performance (the biggest weakness of Denis Villeneuve's 2021 take on Dune is that Dr. Yueh is not similarly developed). Stockwell credited the one-two punch of Paris, Texas and Dune as sparking a "third career."

Stockwell found himself in demand, appearing in a dozen movies in just three years, including another turn with Lynch in Blue Velvet (1986). In 1988 he achieved his sole Academy Award nomination, for Married to the Mob as Best Supporting Actor.

In 1989, at the age of 53, Stockwell finally landed the role that made him a household name when he was cast as Rear Admiral Albert "Al" Calavicci in Quantum Leap. Ostensibly the second lead, behind Scott Bakula's Dr. Sam Beckett, Stockwell stole the show with his exuberant performance, which finally (perhaps a bit late in the day) demolished the typecasting that he couldn't play funny. The role gave Stockwell a Golden Globe win and four Emmy Award nominations. Stockwell played the role across all five seasons of the show, and later re-teamed with Bakula for an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise and another episode of NCIS: New Orleans.

In 2006 he debuted on Battlestar Galactica, playing the role of preacher John Cavil in the Season 2 finale. Quickly revealed as a Cylon, the character was an immediate hit with both the writers and fans, and he returned as a recurring character through the third and fourth seasons, becoming the primary antagonist and villain of the series by its end. He also appeared in spin-off TV movie The Plan. After Galactica's conclusion in 2009, Stockwell returned to occasional TV and film appearances. His final role came in the film Entertainment (2015). The same year he suffered a stroke and chose to retire from acting, focusing instead on his art career which he had continued to pursue between screen roles.

Stockwell died on 7 November at his home in Taos, New Mexico, of natural causes. Collaborators and friends immediately voiced praise for his prolific career. A skilled and versatile performer across multiple genres, decades and mediums, he will absolutely be missed.