‘Quantum Leap’: Why Scott Bakula Is Not Returning, Not Involved at All

Oh, boy. Scott Bakula, in a bid to “quiet the rumors,” has opened up about his decision to not be involved in NBC’s Quantum Leap reboot — at all.

Set nearly 30 years after Sam Beckett — Bakula’s leaper from the original TV series — stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished, the new series follows a team led by physicist Ben Song (played by Kevin Can F**k Himself‘s Raymond Lee), which was assembled to restart the project. But everything changes when Ben makes an unauthorized leap into the past, leaving the team behind to solve the mystery of why he did it.

Bakula’s Sam briefly appears in the reboot pilot, in the context of someone being shown as photo of Ben’s predecessor.

In an Instagram post on Thursday afternoon, Bakula wrote:

To Quantum Leap fans around the world, in an effort to quiet the rumors and move on…
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First of all, thanks for hanging around through the decades!
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Here’s the simple version of what’s going on with the Quantum Leap reboot and me:
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I have no connection with the new show, either in front of the camera or behind it.
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In January, the pilot was sold and a script was sent to me because the character of Sam Beckett was in it, which makes sense, right? As so many of you have been asking me the last several months, “How could you do QL without Sam?“ (or Al, for that matter). Well, I guess we’re about to find out.
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That’s the story. As the show has always been near and dear to my heart, it was a very difficult decision to pass on the project, a decision that has upset and confused so many fans of the original series. However, the idea of anyone ‘leaping’ around in time and walking a mile in someone else’s shoes, remains a very appealing concept and so worthy of exploration, especially given the current state of mankind. In that spirit, I am crossing my fingers that this new cast and crew are lucky enough to tap into the magic that propelled the original Quantum Leap into the hearts and minds of generations past and present.
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I wish them good luck and happy leaping!

To date, the messaging from all involved in NBC’s Quantum Leap reboot (premiering this Monday, Sept. 19 at 10/9c) has been that the door is open for Bakula to be involved.

“We would love to have him. There is no Quantum Leap without Scott Bakula,” series star Raymond Lee told TVLine’s Keisha Hatchett on Thursday morning. “I hope he can watch the show and sign off on it, and one day agree to be on it. But the offer is out there.” (With reporting by Keisha Hatchett)