Quantum Leap Season 3 In Doubt Amid Ratings Disaster

The new Quantum Leap series may be jumping off a cliff as Season 3 is in doubt as no renewal announcement has followed the end of Season 2.

Update: NBC confirms the series has been canceled.

Speaking of jumping off a cliff, the potential series cancellation comes following a ratings landslide which is the worst of the two seasons and only can be looked at as a complete disaster.

When Quantum Leap debuted on the Peacock streaming service, NBCUniversal was quick to announce how well it reportedly did, the highest ratings for a new show on the streamer.

Quantum Leap also airs on NBC network TV, where the Season 1 ratings weren’t necessarily all that bad, considering the series might have done well on Peacock.

Ratings take a leap backward

Season 2 was greenlit after only eight episodes into Season 1, but – oh, boy! – the ratings have really taken a nosedive.

So according to the ratings (see below), Quantum Leap Season 2 was apparently doing well on NBC with some episodes even netting 3 million viewers, the highest since the first episode of Season 1.

However, things took a leap backward following Season 2 going on its holiday winter hiatus in December. And I mean a huge leap backward.

Again, Season 2 episodes were being watched by 3 million people, with the Dec. 13, 2023 Episode 8 having been watched by 2.76 million.

That’s when Quantum Leap went on a break and things completely collapsed.

It’s also when NBC decided moved the series from airing on Wednesday nights to Tuesday nights, replaced by Chicago Med Season 9 which has averaged over 6 million viewers.

Quantum Leap collapses: Loses A Million Viewers

When Season 2 returned with Episode 9 more than a month later on its new night, Tuesday, January 30, 2024, and in a new timeslot, 10pm EST (from a previous 8pm EST Wed. timeslot), only 1.7 million fans tuned in, a loss of more than a million viewers.

Things would continue going downhill as only 1.58 million tuned in for Episode 10 — then only 1.34 million for Episode 11, a series low.

The last two episodes of Quantum Leap Season 2 were watched by 1.38 million and 1.36 million, respectively, with the later being the two hour finale (airing at 9pm EST).

Check out the list of ratings for each episode below.

Showrunner addresses Season 3

While the fate of Quantum Leap is yet to be announced, co-showrunner and executive producer Dean Georgaris addressed a potential Season 3 offering they at least gave the series an ending if things don’t continue.

“Whenever you’re doing seasons of television, most of the time you don’t know about the next season, and we were very conscious that we didn’t want to leave the audience hanging too dramatically,” Georgaris told TV Insider about the Season 2 finale.

Georgaris continued, “We wanted the ending to satisfy and to make them excited for the next chapter or, as someone said to me, demand a third season. And I think having now Ben and Addison leaping kind of demands a third season, because it’s opening up a whole new dynamic. At the same time, if at the beginning of Season 1, we separated the two of them, then we have united the two of them.

Georgaris added, “So I think what’s nice is it’s a wonderful way to end what I think of as the first act of a three act multi-season journey for our two characters.”

Quantum Leap stars Raymond Lee as Ben Song, Caitlin Bassett as Addison Augustine, Mason Alexander Park as Ian Wright, Ernie Hudson as Herbert “Magic” Williams, Peter Gadiot as Tom Westfall, and Eliza Taylor as Hannah Carson, with Susan Diol as Beth Calavicci, Georgina Reilly as Janis Calavicci, Walter Perez as Richard Martinez, and Alice Kremelberg as Rachel, Ian’s girlfriend.

What is Quantum Leap about?

It’s been nearly 30 years since Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished.

Now, a new team, led by physicist Ben Song (Raymond Lee), has been assembled to restart the project. Everything changes, however, when Ben makes an unauthorized leap into the past, leaving the team behind to solve the mystery of why he did it. At Ben’s side throughout his leaps is Addison (Caitlin Bassett), a decorated Army veteran who appears in the form of a hologram only Ben can see and hear. Herbert “Magic” Williams (Ernie Hudson) helms the highly confidential operation whose team at headquarters includes Ian Wright (Mason Alexander Park) and Jenn Chou (Nanrisa Lee).

Quantum Leap ratings:

Season 1:

(Episode/millions of viewers)

1. 3.35
2. 2.77
3. 2.58
4. 2.46
5. 2.41
6. 2.22
7. 2.33
8. 2.65
9. 2.31
10. 1.75
11. 2.10
12. 1.75
13. 2.02
14. 2.19
15. 2.28
16. 1.92
17. 2.25
18. 2.16

Season 2:

(Episode/millions of viewers)

1. 2.90
2. 2.62
3. 2.75
4. 2.52
5. 3.00
6. 3.00
7. 2.53
8. 2.76
9. 1.70 Returns from *Hiatus* – new day and time
10. 1.58
11. 1.34
12. 1.38
13. 1.36