When Quantum Leap returned to television in 2022, the difference noted immediately between Dr. Ben Song’s and Dr. Sam Beckett’s adventures was their support team.
Where Sam had only Al Calavicci as his holo-guide, Ben enters the accelerator knowing a team of friends (and one secret conspirator) has his back. Having that team — specifically, computer specialist Ian Wright, Security Chief Jenn Chu, and team leader Herbert “Magic” Williams — has imbued the new series with a life and tone all its own.
Speaking exclusively with TV Fanatic over Zoom, the actors who play the HQ Trio — Mason Alexander Park, Nanrisa Lee, and Ernie Hudson — open up about their personal connections to the show and how Quantum Leap Season 2 adds depth and nuance to their characters and the narrative.
When TV Fanatic spoke with Ernie Hudson before the series premiere, we asked about his own history with the franchise. With Park and Lee now available, we posed the same question to them.
Park is honest about their love of the show and the genre. “I had seen episodes of it, and I loved it. I’m a big fan of anything in the sci-fi/time travel realm just because I’m such a geek.
“I thought there was such heart to it and so much humanity to the show. It made me excited for the possibility of being a part of a new version of it. I came to this as a relative fan. Maybe not as experienced as a fan as Nanrisa is, though…”
And seamlessly catching that expert throw-to, Lee spills about how personally rewarding it was to book the role of Jenn in the sequel series.
“I used to watch the original. I used to watch it with my dad, so I remember it as a kid. I remember getting the audition for this show and just thinking, ‘If I book this, that is going to be so much street cred in my house!’ Y’know?
“And so now we just have a good time. He has notes sometimes for me, but we have a good time. I loved the original, and I do feel very lucky to be a part of this version of the show, which I feel keeps the heart of things. But we’ve also managed to expand out the world of it. It’s been really exciting.”
On Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode 5, Magic’s difficult journey between losing Ben in Season 1 and restarting the project in Season 2 is revealed.
His struggle with alcoholism, his new relationship, and also the trauma from his younger days make for an intensely emotional turn for Hudson.
He takes us through Magic’s complex path and explains why he still fights to hope for the best possible outcome.
“Well, I think in the first season, it was very clear why this project was so important to Magic, and he’s really just determined to see it complete – to get Ben back, to get Sam back.
“When we lose Ben, and that three-year period [happens], he takes it as a failure. Things sort of unravel.
“Ian’s able to find Ben, and so now we’re back up, and [Magic] wants to hope, but he’s carrying a lot. Also, he’s facing his mortality. I mean, he’s not a young man anymore.
“He loves this team. They’re like family, but it’s a lot of responsibility, and he questions himself a lot more than he ever did.
“So this is a challenging time, but he wants to see this through. But he does question whether he’ll be able to see that happen with everything going on.”
As a self-proclaimed geek, Park sees many similarities between themself and their character.
“Ian’s just like a much smarter version of me. I think it’s as simple as that. All the sassy, bad qualities Ian has? That’s me, given free rein.
“I definitely don’t know as much about computers as Ian does, although I did grow up around them. My dad works in this world, specifically with the government.
“I’ve always been adjacent to the Ians of the world, so when this came to be, I was very excited ’cause it is a language that I’ve been around. It’s an experience that I’ve been around, but I’ve never gotten a chance to play a character like it.
“It’s just really fun to have a desk job, y’know? It’s really nice to be able to be a part of the team, and yeah, I think there is a lot of overlap between Mason and Ian, specifically their love of cats. That’s a big one.”
And then, of course, there’s Park’s other life as Desire on The Sandman (Netflix), the anthropomorphized embodiment of humanity’s lust for all things pleasurable.
Park admits it’s a wide range to play but loves how fans respond passionately to both. “Couldn’t be further apart, that’s probably true.
“It has been such a treat, especially since they’re both fanatically in a similar space. It’s cool now to go to cons and not know what people will necessarily be a fan of – if it’s one, the other, or both. It makes me feel very lucky to be a part of these universes.”
Harkening back to Quantum Leap Season 1 Episode 8 and the time Janis Calavicci shut down Quantum Leap HQ, we ask Lee about Jenn’s loyalty to the team, considering the character’s savvy, self-sufficient nature.
“Her loyalty is to the team, but I think that came about because of her loyalty to Magic. In the storyline of that, Jenn comes from a very different background. She doesn’t have the same pedigree as everybody else on the team.
“She committed a lot of crimes! And made a lot of decisions that I think other people on the team maybe wouldn’t have made. Magic found her and helps to pull her out of that.
“Because Jenn grew up in an environment where she was highly independent because she had to be for survival, that was the first time in her life that someone really was able to create that kind of stability for her in a relationship and perhaps one of the first times where she didn’t feel like she had to do all of it by herself.
“And so I think from that relationship and that attachment and that loyalty to Magic and his faith in her, she was able then to expand that into the rest of the team, learning how to trust everybody else on the team and vice versa – everybody else learning and welcoming and learning how to trust her as well because, y’know, on paper, she’s a little untrustworthy.
“It’s helped Jenn discover a part of herself and have a life that I don’t think that she ever thought that she would have.”
On Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode 8, the midseason finale, the production went to Egypt to shoot when Ben leaps into a dangerous spy mission and meets up with Eliza Taylor’s Hannah Carson for the third time.
With Caitlin Bassett’s Addison Augustine back in the role of holo-guide, this left Park, Lee, and Hudson out of the location shoot entirely, a fact they are all too aware of.
Laughing it off, Park comments, “Shady, right?” and Lee confirms, “That’s correct. We all were left behind.”
However, not being there doesn’t mean they weren’t included in the adventure.
Park recalls the communication from the location team at the time. “I remember them sending us pictures of stuff in the group chat as it was happening. It looked really, really cool.
“I was hiding out in London at the time, and then Ray and some of the others came over right after Egypt to see me in Cabaret on the West End while I was doing it there.
“It was so cool to watch them all come from this other country, fresh-faced, [exclaiming,] ‘You wouldn’t believe what we just did!’
“I was like, ‘Damn, I wish I could’ve seen something like… I wish I was just there for a day.’ But it looked amazing.”
Lee takes a moment to pitch a future adventure. “Hopefully, for future episodes, if we travel again, y’know… maybe the Headquarters Team might be called to y’know Peru, Macchu Pichu or something.”
Quantum Leap Season 2 completed eight episodes before the Hollywood strikes shut down production, taking them to the midseason hiatus. Currently, the season order is for a total of thirteen, and production resumed at the end of November for the back five.
So, what can audiences expect from the rest of the season?
Park is forthright. “Chaos. You can look forward to plenty of chaos.”
“Yeah, I think there are a couple of things that haven’t fully been addressed yet, right?” Lee expands, “This whole side story with Ian and Jenn keeping this secret from Magic. It’s how we found Ben, but things don’t come without consequences.
“We see so far that as the season starts to progress in that storyline as well as other romantic storylines. Y’know, I think things will come to, as Mason says, chaos.”
Hudson chooses to be more tantalizingly cagey in answering, “What to look forward to?”
He considers his answer carefully. “I suppose, chaos. A little confusion. This vehicle is careening, not necessarily in control. So it’s very exciting. A lot to look forward to with that. We’re all excited about it.”
What are you most excited about, Fanatics? What is the new plan to bring Ben home?
How will Jenn and Ian solve the quantum chip issue? Will Magic succeed with his mission and keep his life on track?
Hit our comments with your thoughts and theories, and we will ride out the hiatus with some lively discussion!
Quantum Leap is on hiatus until 2024, with the return date yet to be announced. We’ll keep you updated with Everything We Know, so check back regularly!
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Diana Keng is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond ’til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on X.