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‘Quantum Leap’ writers created a ‘real’ time travel cheat code equation for season finale

They're putting just a bit more science back into the science fiction.

By Trent Moore Apr 4, 2023, 5:35 PM ET

Ben Song and Mason Alexander in Quantum Leap Season 1 Episode 18 Photo: NBC

The season finale of NBC’s Quantum Leap revival threw the entire time stream into flux with a wild story set across several different timelines as they brought a whole lot of big mysteries to conclusion. But it turns out, there was also a bit of real science mixed in with the fiction.

**SPOILER WARNING! Spoilers ahead for the season finale of NBC’s Quantum Leap**

The season finale finds Ben (Raymond Lee) leaping into his own body back in 2018, as he tries to stop Martinez from killing the Quantum Leap program (including the team and the accelerator itself) before it can officially be restarted. The first time around, Ben’s mission goes fairly haywire, but thankfully Ian (Mason Alexander Park) sends a “cheat code” with Ben that can be deciphered and used to effectively restart the jump after its over, meaning Ben can get another shot knowing what went wrong the first time around.

The formula itself is introduced on a wall in the future, which Ben memorizes and passes along to Ian in the past and present. So is the formula itself all just random numbers and timey-wimey nonsense? Nope! The Quantum Leap writers room revealed via Twitter that they actually had a team of mathematicians and engineers come up with their best guess of what a “time travel cheat code” might look like, if time travel was real.

Ian's formula isn't just random squiggles and numbers! We asked a team of mathematicians and engineers to write it based on the premise: "What if time were an incompressible fluid passing through a 5-dimensional infinite repeating lattice of potentials?" #QuantumLeap pic.twitter.com/6Xi6nDgM43
— Quantum Leap Writers' Room (@quantumwriters) April 4, 2023

Now, we’re personally not mathematicians, but that certainly does look like … well, some complicated math. So we’ll take their word for it — and save that screenshot, just in case we ever need a time loop to save the day.

The entire first season of Quantum Leap, including the season finale, is streaming now on Peacock. Work is already underway on a second season, which is slated to premiere this fall on NBC.