In NBC’s hourlong pilot Quantum Leap, a reimagining of the iconic 1990s sci-fi thriller, Ernie Hudson has been cast as the main alongside Raymond Lee.
The follow-up show is set in the current day and is scripted and executive directed by Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt, as well as Martin Gero, Quantum Leap creator/EP Don Bellisario, and EP/co-narrator Deborah Pratt. Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) jumped inside the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished 30 years ago. A second crew has been formed to relaunch the work with the expectation of unraveling the mysteries surrounding the technology and the man who built it.
Dr. Ben Seong, played by Lee, is a world-renowned scientist researching the Quantum Leap time experiment who becomes stranded in the late 1980s with amnesia after using the device.
Hudson plays Herbert “Magic” Williams, a Vietnam veteran and the head of Quantum Leap’s time travel experiment. Magic saves the crew some time to save Ben by using a little politicking and his martial know-how to keep the Pentagon at bay, but he wants explanations once he returns.
Universal Television, a branch of Universal Studio Group, is creating the pilot, with Lilien and Wynbrandt serving as executive producers for their I Have an Idea! Entertainment, Bellisario for his Belisarius Productions, and Gero for his Quinn’s House Productions.
Hudson just concluded the Bobby Farrelly-directed Champions alongside Woody Harrelson and reprised his famous character Winston Zeddemore in the forthcoming Jason Reitman film Ghostbusters: Afterlife. He executive produces and acts in the BET series The Family Business, and he will soon be seen in the third season of Showtime’s City on a Hill, as well as in Catherine Hardwicke’s Prisoner’s Daughter, with Brian Cox and Kate Beckinsale. APA and Zero Gravity Management represent him.
