‘Quantum Leap’ producer teases more original series Easter eggs, big guest stars in Season 2

With the first season of NBC’s Quantum Leap all done with its leaping — and Ben apparently still out there bouncing around the time stream — SYFY WIRE caught up with series producer Martin Gero to see how things are coming on Season 2.

The first season wrapped up the serialized story nicely, bringing a tidy end to the mystery of why Ben leaped and what the mystery leaper Martinez was doing out there all this time. With Season 2 ordered months ago by the network, Gero revealed they’ve benefited from having a leg up on production this time around — and they already have a few episodes in the can for Season 2.

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Gero went on to tease the Season 2 premiere is arguably the most ambitious thing they’ve attempted to date, and noted the next batch of episodes will continue to bring in fun and surprising guest stars. The first season was a who’s who of fan favorites, featuring Brandon Routh (Legends of Tomorrow), Jewel Staite (Firefly), Robert Picardo (Star Trek), Carly Pope (Demonic), Elyse Levesque (Stargate Universe), and Justin Hartley (Smallville) all popping up in various episodes.

“It’s coming along great, we’re shooting Episode 4 now. It’s fantastic, the season premiere is maybe our biggest episode yet. It feels ginormous, and is really fun,” Gero said. “We’ve been able to get some phenomenal guest cast for Season 2 that we’re not ready to announce yet. It’s bigger and bolder and feels more emotional and fun.”

With the new series serving as a revival of the original 1990s NBC series, meaning its set within the same canon (with Scott Bakula’s Sam still lost out there in the time stream), Gero also hinted they’ll be looking to connect even deeper back into the original series. Season 1 brought everything from Easter eggs connected to some of Sam’s leaps, to references to the Evil Leapers, to some old tech left over from the original 1990s project.

Gero was cagey, but simply noted, “Yes” with a wide smile, when asked if they have more connections planned for Season 2. We’re extremely curious to find out what that might mean going forward.

Though fans didn’t have to worry about the series being cancelled midstream thanks to the early renewal, Gero said he doesn’t think even a cancellation would’ve altered the season’s cliffhanger ending much, with the final scene showing Ben leaping with no definitive answer on if he makes it home. Which makes sense, considering the original series ended on a famously abrupt, shocking and poetic cliffhanger with Sam choosing to keep leaping and setting things right instead of leaping home at the series’ end.

“It was important to the original creators Deborah [Pratt] and Don [Bellisario] in their decision to end the previous incarnation where Sam is still out there. So I think we’d have let Ben just still be out there if it was going to be like that potentially,” he explained. “Then, who knows? Maybe the next show could’ve picked it up with both of them dangling [laughs]. Thankfully we knew early, so it wasn’t really something we discussed.”

The entire first season of Quantum Leap is streaming now on Peacock. You can also catch up on all five seasons of the original series there, too.