New to Netflix on August 14, 2025, the oft-overlooked reboot of Quantum Leap deserves reappraisal. Operating for 2 seasons and 31 episodes on NBC from 2022 to 2024, the time-traveling sci-fi TV sequence earned middling crucial and viewers opinions throughout its preliminary run, with many evaluating it unfavorably to the ingenious unique sequence starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell.
With a little bit of time, distance, and a brand new perspective, maybe Quantum Leap is worthier than its repute suggests. In any case, the standard of TV writing and filmmaking know-how has superior dramatically because the unique sequence was created, doubtlessly making the time-traveling motion much more vivid and sensible than within the first iteration of the present (1989-1993). Evaluating the reboot’s reception to that of its predecessor, it is time to parse whether or not the Quantum Leap reboot is value watching.
‘Quantum Leap’s Rebooted Premise
Extra of a revival than a page-one reboot, NBC’s Quantum Leap (2022) immediately ties into the unique time-travel TV sequence created by Donald P. Bellisario. The revival acknowledges the unique lead character, Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula), an excellent polymath assigned to steer the Quantum Leap challenge for the U.S. Division of Protection. 30 years in the past, Beckett received misplaced contained in the Quantum Leap accelerator that facilitates time journey and has not been discovered since.
Within the current day, quantum physicist Dr. Ben Track (Raymond Lee) has been recruited to steer the newly reopened Quantum Leap program with the only real goal of discovering Dr. Beckett. However very similar to Dr. Beckett within the unique sequence, Dr. Track typically will get caught in numerous epochs and begins dwelling vicariously by the lives of whole strangers who abide by many alternative legal guidelines, customs, cultures, and languages.
It is a great conceit for a TV present, with the unique sequence capitalizing on the recognition of Physician Who, Again to the Future, and different fantastical time-travel tales that empower the lead characters to change the course of historical past for the higher.
But, with much more technological advances that make time journey theoretically extra possible than earlier than, the Quantum Leap reboot might have a scientific leg-up on its predecessor. The performances are nowhere close to as convincing, however when it comes to science and tech, it improves on the unique by Ziggy, the upgraded supercomputer that Dr. Beckett created and Dr. Track encodes to seek out the lacking physicist.
The ‘Quantum Leap’ Reboot’s Reception, Analyzed
The Quantum Leap revival ran on NBC for 2 seasons from 2022 to 2024. Regardless of decreasing the episode depend from 18 in Season 1 to 13 in Season 2, viewership declined. In keeping with The Hollywood Reporter, Season 1 averaged 3.89 million viewers per episode, whereas Season 2 dropped to three.56 million viewers per episode. Whereas seemingly negligible, Quantum Leap dropped its TV rank from 58 to 66.
Past the waning viewership, Quantum Leap 2022 was overshadowed by the unique within the eyes of most critics. The sci-fi revival holds a 58% Tomato Meter rating on Rotten Tomatoes (14 contemporary opinions, 10 rotten), with critics agreeing that:
“This extra serialized reboot of Quantum Leap has sufficient coronary heart to benefit a glance from viewers with the luxurious of time, however it typically forgets to have enjoyable with the episodic construction that made the unique a basic.”
Boasting a near-identical 57 Metascore, Quantum Leap has been acquired by critics as a heartfelt homage to the unique with mediocre outcomes. Nevertheless, the present has extra enchantment amongst non-critics and basic audiences, supported by its 72% Popcorn Meter RT score and 6.3 IMDb rating. Whereas that hardly compares to the unique Quantum Leap‘s widespread enchantment (together with a 91% Popcorn Meter score, an 8.2 IMDb rating, and 6 Primetime Emmy Awards), the revival deserves extra reward than it initially acquired.
Why the ‘Quantum Leap’ Revival Deserves One other Look
Whereas it is unimaginable to divorce the time journey revival present from its inspiration, Quantum Leap is extra deserving of reward than it has acquired. Though the central performances will not be as robust, and the present has divided followers of the unique for that includes a a lot totally different lead character, it is nonetheless value watching in 2025. One key cause is how the present updates a number of scientific facets of the unique.
For example, the memory-losing “Swiss cheese impact” that Dr. Beckett skilled every time he used the Quantum Leap chamber has been reintroduced. This time, nonetheless, the holographic observer occurs to be Dr. Track’s fiancée, Addison Augustine (Caitlin Bassett), which complicates their private {and professional} bond. Fairly than recycling for the sake of nostalgia, the brand new wrinkles really feel contemporary and significant with out shedding the unique present’s spirit.
One more reason Quantum Leap holds extra benefit than the unique is its well timed exploration of AI. Whereas the unique sequence has no scarcity of enjoyable journey, improbable creativeness, and grounded performances, the scientific anachronisms are fairly evident when seen in the present day. In contrast, the Quantum Leap revival excels with its scientific know-how, topical developments in synthetic intelligence, and the quantum velocity of convergence that’s changing into extra sensible by the day.
Deciphering whether or not Quantum Leap is value watching now that it is on Netflix, the decision is a bit nuanced. Hardcore followers of the unique ought to steer clear, whereas those that by no means noticed the unique ought to give it a shot. Followers of the unique will seemingly be dissatisfied by a present that falls in need of its predecessor. Nevertheless, these unfamiliar with the time-traveling adventures of Sam Beckett and his sidekick, Al Calavicci, are more likely to benefit from the revival greater than these consistently evaluating the 2 variations. Quantum Leap is streaming now on Netflix.
Quantum Leap
- Launch Date
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2022 – 2024
- Community
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NBC
- Showrunner
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Martin Gero
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Caitlin Bassett
Addison Augustine
