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‘Quantum Leap’ Cast Answers Burning Questions About Ben’s Potential Return on December 14, 2023 at 2:00 am Us Weekly

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Nanrisa Lee, Mason Alexander Park, Ernie Hudson and Caitlin Bassett. NBC

The Quantum Leap midseason finale left Us with so many questions — and the cast is offering some hints about what’s still to come in season 2.

Before the bombshell Wednesday, December 13, episode, stars Ernie Hudson, Nanrisa Lee and Mason Alexander Park exclusively opened up to Us Weekly about how the second season of the NBC series differed from the first.

“It was really cool to see the feedback roll in real time [for season 1 as we started filming the second season]. Especially leading up to the season finale, because there were so many big story points that happened toward the end that really kept upping the ante,” Park, 28, explained. “As we’re building out season 2, we can [now] talk about how it really does feel a lot bigger and it feels like we’ve even found ways to make the show even more intense and even more insane.”

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While Park has enjoyed getting to see viewers react as the season progressed, Lee, 43, has preferred taking a step back.

Related: Every Time NBC’s ‘Quantum Leap’ Paid Tribute to the OG Series

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Honoring its predecessor. NBC’s Quantum Leap revival has often paid tribute to the original science fiction series. The original sci-fi show, which ran from 1989 to 1993, starred Scott Bakula as a physicist named Dr. Sam Beckett who accidentally leaps through time and temporarily takes the place of a person from that time period. In […]

“In terms of the reception, we were all just so thrilled to be there. We really liked the show. We were having a really good time making it. I was having a good time making it,” she told Us about her experience filming the first season. “For me personally, I don’t read a ton about critical feedback or message boards or things like that. You don’t have time when you’re making the show. So to me it felt like sort of a perfect storm of just you keep your head down, do your work, mind your business and stay out of trouble.”

Quantum Leap, which is a revival of the ‘90s science-fiction series, follows Ben (Raymond Lee) after he makes a secret leap through time and gets lost in the past. With help from his ex Addison (Caitlin Bassett) and the rest of the Quantum Leap team, Ben tries to figure out what caused him to alter history.

Wednesday’s midseason finale introduced a major twist when Addison’s new boyfriend — and the new leader of the Quantum Leap team — Tom (Peter Gadiot) revealed that there might be a way to finally return Ben to the present.

Keep scrolling to see Hudson, Lee and Park break down all of Us‘ burning questions about what’s to come in the remainder of season 2 and the future of the show:

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The Ben Reveal

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Ben potentially coming back to the present threw Us for a loop because it sounds too good to be true. According to Park, Ben’s potential return means the entire premise of Quantum Leap falls apart.

“If Ben is back, we’re unemployed,” Park joked. “Obviously, as the characters, we all want to see resolution with that story line. We’ve been working years and years — especially with the time jump — to bring this individual back. I could probably speak for all of us to say that as characters we want Ben back.”

Park continued: “As an actor, I would like to make more episodes. So I’m sure that [the writers room] has plans that I’m really excited about for all the various ways in which the show is going to continue from this to the season finale, which I think is really, really rad.”

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Hudson, 77, meanwhile, is waiting to see how the plot twist plays out before getting his hopes up.

“It’s what we come into [with] trusting the producers and the writers team. We all definitely as characters really want [Ben to come back], but I’m also trusting that they have looked further ahead. As we were saying, we like the surprise of what comes next,” he detailed to Us. “And if Ben’s back, I’m sure it’s going to be very interesting. I’m excited about the possibility and I’m sort of taking it all in one episode at a time. But the possibilities are just all out there.”

Lee also praised the writers for pushing the boundaries they themselves created, adding, “It would pretty drastically change the format of the show. But if it did happen, I am sure our writers would find some really fun and interesting ways to develop that and maybe get another leaper out there.”

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Related: Which TV Shows Are Renewed, Which Are Canceled in 2023-2024?

As networks make decisions about their roster of shows, Us Weekly will continue to track what has been renewed and which projects have been canceled. As Abbott Elementary‘s second season premiered on ABC, the hit sitcom received an early renewal for season 3. The ABC series — which stars Quinta Brunson, Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, […]

What Fans Can Expect From the Rest of Season 2

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While the first half of season 2 finished airing, the cast is currently on set filming the remaining episodes. Without giving any spoilers away, the trio were able to tease where the story can go from here and how it sets up the show’s future.

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“What’s really exciting for me is [the way] there are the characters, [but] there’s another huge part of it, [which] is the people behind the Pentagon. All those forces that make this possible that we really don’t control,” Hudson pointed out about potential threats. “They affect everything and how they’ll come into play as we move forward is a mystery. But it is also very, very exciting. It’s not all just up to us to just feel good about each other. There are other elements that really sort of turn things upside down and sideways.”

Park opted out of offering hints about how season 2 plays out because they know their “limits,” joking, “I’ll ruin something somehow,”

Lee, for her part, reminded viewers to evolving character arcs as well as story lines.

“Season 2 has had more of a focus on the relationships. Between what’s going on with Ben and Addison together and separately [on an emotional level], as well as the rest of the team and what everybody is sort of grappling with,” she noted. “It’s a really nice opportunity for the audience to get to know other facets of these characters. Some of those things tend to build and we see some arcs of those things. But past that, I can’t divulge too much.”

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Related: Winter TV Preview 2023: Inside the Must-Watch New and Returning Shows

Settle in! The winter season is upon us — and it won’t be long before new and returning shows are back on our screens. Fans of That ’70s Show will see the cast reunite in its upcoming spinoff, That ‘90s Show. Topher Grace, Laura Prepon, Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Wilmer Valderrama will be reuniting […]

How Much They Know About Their Character’s Upcoming Story Lines

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“For me, I’d rather sort of discover it as we go along. But I think if there’s some major things that are about to happen, it’s kind of nice to be aware because it affects everything that comes [ahead of it],” Hudson shared. “I don’t want to be totally naive about it, but as much as possible, I’d like to kind of discover it in the same way the audience does.”

Park told Us they would “get made fun of a lot” on set for “not reading ahead” in their scripts.

“Nanrisa gives me a really hard time with the level of uncertainty that I maybe approach some things with. But there’s so much fun in discovery. There’s so much fun in seeing what the writers come up with every week, especially because the show does go to really wild places and it does shift pretty drastically really quickly,” they gushed. “I try not to get too attached to story lines or get too attached to an idea of what could happen because odds are they’re going to throw a curveball at us anyway.”

Lee, meanwhile, enjoys reaching out to her cast members to unpack the big twists.

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“Definitely, on more than one occasion, I’ll text the [cast] thread just, like, all capitals after a script gets released to us. It’s exciting to be a part of an ongoing series where big things happen,” she noted. “I like being surprised, but like Mason said, if it’s something that’s directly attached to our character, we get a heads up about it.

The actress concluded: “As far as the twists and turns of things that are happening with the program or in the leap, we just got one that I could not contain myself [about]. I just read it the other night. It was insane. It’s going to be really, really, pretty exciting to deal with.”

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While many TV shows have made household names out of their star players, occasionally showrunners have been able to corral some of Hollywood’s biggest names to drop in for a surprising cameo during a complete episode or a single scene. Perhaps one of the most polarizing cameos belonged to Ed Sheeran on HBO’s Game of […]

Their Favorite Guest Stars — and Their Dream Additions

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Lee noted that it was fun having Justin Hartley and his real-life wife, Sofia Pernas, appear on an episode during season 1. She also applauded Bel-Air’s Diandra Lyle for playing a district attorney when Ben leaps into the 1980s.

Park joked that they were “selfishly thrilled” with their real-life partner Alice Kremelberg‘s presence on the show because of the glimpse fans have gotten into their character Ian’s personal life.

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“We’ve wanted to do something together for a very long time, so that was such a nice treat to find out that the writers really did want to make it happen at some point,” they shared. “It was something that we had talked about literally during the pilot. So that was really cool to see it sort of come to fruition and it be more than just a one episode, one-off kind of experience. It is nice for Ian to have someone to play off of that. We’ve now seen [Ian and Rachel together] four times, which has been great.”

Hudson concluded by pointing out how Quantum Leap uplifts its guest stars.

“The way the show is set up, it really gives them a lot to come and play. It’s not just making an appearance, the episodes are really written in a way that they really get to show what they do,” he said. “Stan Shaw, who’s been a friend of mine for years, to see him come on and have fun, that was really important to me. And, of course, I feel like for the fans, the ultimate guest star would be to see Sam Beckett [played by Scott Bakula] come back [from the OG series].”

The Quantum Leap midseason finale left Us with so many questions — and the cast is offering some hints about what’s still to come in season 2. Before the bombshell Wednesday, December 13, episode, stars Ernie Hudson, Nanrisa Lee and Mason Alexander Park exclusively opened up to Us Weekly about how the second season of 

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Entertainment

STREAMING PREMIERE · JUNE 13, 2026

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Laughter Meets Inspiration: Our Ladies Show Lands on The Roku Channel

A bold new sketch comedy series for women premieres June 13 across the U.S., U.K., and Canada — arriving on the back of a festival-winning run that has critics and audiences already paying attention.

It isn’t every day a brand-new comedy arrives already wearing a row of trophies. Our Ladies Show does. The seven-episode inspirational sketch comedy series — created, written by, and starring Christin Jezak — begins streaming on The Roku Channel on Friday, June 13, 2026, available free to viewers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.

Produced in partnership with global media services leader Encompass Digital Media, the series sets out to do something rare in today’s streaming landscape: make women laugh out loud and leave them lifted. In a media moment crowded with noise and cynicism, Our Ladies Show is a deliberate counterweight — comedy with a conscience, built for women of every age and background.

A Show Built Around Real Life — and Real Laughs

Each of the seven episodes opens with a monologue from one of the cast members introducing the theme, then rolls into three or more sketches that hit the subject from every comedic angle. The series tackles the things women actually carry: holding grudges, comparison, beauty, patience, gift giving, the importance of community, and dealing with anxiety.

The comedy comes from a place of warmth rather than mockery — a “laugh at ourselves” spirit that runs through a gallery of unforgettable characters: a nosey neighbor, an overwhelmed mom, relentlessly optimistic flight attendants, beauty pageant winners past their prime, and a crew of unruly campers with a counselor who simply cannot hold it together.

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Then the show does something most sketch series don’t. In the final segment of every episode, the cast gathers in a living-room setting and invites the audience in — sharing real inspiration drawn from the theme, the sketches, and their own personal stories. It’s the moment the laughter turns into something that stays with you.

The Women Behind the Show

Our Ladies Show brings together three performers with serious range:

  • Christin Jezak — creator, writer, and star (Miracle at Manchester, Raising Hope, Jimmy Kimmel Live!)
  • Hillary Hawkins — (Primal, Nick Jr.’s Play Along, Gullah Gullah Island)
  • Sarah Hernandez — (Nefarious, Unplanned, House of Payne)

“In a world with so much division and depression, I hope women of all ages and backgrounds will watch this show, laugh, be reminded of how beautiful, unique, and loved they are, and remember how much we need each other.”— Christin Jezak, Creator & Star

Already a Festival Favorite

The series’ recurring long-form sketch, Neighborhood Watch, didn’t arrive quietly. Originally released as a web series and revamped for Our Ladies Show with new footage, sound, and music, it has been sweeping the festival circuit:

  • 🏆 Best Webseries — 2026 New Media Film Festival (Los Angeles)
  • 🏆 Best Web/TV Series — Paris Film Awards
  • 🏆 Best Web Series — Dallas Movie Awards
  • 🏅 Additional wins at the London Movie Awards, Florence Film Awards, and Hollywood Gold Awards
  • 🎬 Official Selection — 2026 Harvard Divinity School Film Fest
  • ⭐ Finalist — Houston Comedy Film Festival
  • 📣 Three nominations — 2025 Content Christian Media Conference, including Best Actress in a TV and Web Series nods for both Christin Jezak and Sarah Hernandez

Where and When to Watch

Our Ladies Show premieres Friday, June 13, 2026, streaming on The Roku Channel — the home of premium and free entertainment — in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. All seven episodes deliver the series’ signature blend of sharp sketch comedy and genuine encouragement.

Click Here To Get Tickets

Watch the trailer now on your platform of choice:

For more information, visit www.ourladiesshow.com and follow @ourladiesshow on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.


About Christin Jezak

Christin Jezak has worked for over 15 years in the entertainment industry. She created and stars in Our Ladies Show and the award-winning web series Neighborhood Watch. She produced the EWTN TV program For the Sake of the Gospel and the all-women web series Ladies Keepin’ It Real, played Dr. Sam in Miracle at Manchester (starring Dean Cain, Daniel Roebuck, and Eddie McClintock), and voices Agnes in the podcast Confessions of a Catholic Single. She held a lead role in a short film for NTT Data directed by Academy Award–winning cinematographer Janusz Kamiński, has co-starred on Raising Hope, and appeared in Jimmy Kimmel sketches and a Grubhub Super Bowl commercial.

About The Roku Channel

Roku pioneered streaming on TV and is the #1 TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico by hours streamed (Hypothesis Group, Dec. 2025). The Roku Channel is the home of premium and free entertainment, alongside Roku’s Howdy and Frndly TV services. Roku is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About Encompass Digital Media

Encompass Digital Media is a global managed services company — technology-driven, software-defined, and people-powered. Trusted by world-leading broadcasters, networks, sports rights-holders, and OTT platforms, it processes over 25,000 hours of content daily, serves 850 channels to 84 countries, distributes over 243,000 live events annually, and reaches 400 million radio listeners weekly worldwide. Learn more at www.encompass.tv.

Media & Interview Requests: To interview creator Christin Jezak or the cast, contact Christin at cjezak@p2ptheatre.com.

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What Filmmakers Should Actually Steal From Euphoria

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Most of the talk about Euphoria asks one question: was it realistic? That’s the wrong question if you make films. The better one is simpler. How did Sam Levinson get an audience to feel addiction from the inside? And what did it cost him to end the show the way he did?

Strip away the noise and Euphoria is a clinic in three choices: point of view, style, and the ending. Here’s what’s worth taking — and what isn’t.

1. Put the Camera Inside the Character

Most shows about drugs watch from across the room. Euphoria doesn’t. When Rue is high, the camera is high too. Walls breathe. Floors tilt. Time skips. You’re not watching her — you’re stuck inside her head.

That’s the lesson: point of view is a decision you make with the camera and the cut, not a mood you add later in color. Levinson builds it into the lens, the blocking, and the edit.

So before you shoot a scene through a character’s eyes, ask one thing on set: whose eyes is this lens standing in for? Then make every cut respect that.

2. Your Style Has to Mean Something

The glitter. The slow push-ins. The impossible club lighting. Euphoria‘s look got copied everywhere. That’s the trap.

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The style worked because it carried weight. The beauty wasn’t decoration — it was the lie addiction tells you, the reason the next high looks worth it. The camera made self-destruction gorgeous on purpose.

The copies missed that. A thousand music videos took the look and left the meaning behind, and you can feel how hollow they are. So here’s the test: if your signature style could be swapped onto any other project and still “work,” it’s not a style. It’s a filter. Every choice should have a reason behind it.

3. The Ending Tells the Audience What It All Meant

When Euphoria ended for good in Season 3, Levinson killed Rue — an accidental, fentanyl-laced overdose. He called it “the honest ending,” saying he wanted to tell a true story about addiction and grief in a time when one mistake can be the last one. Reportedly, that wasn’t the original plan; the death of Angus Cloud, who played Fezco, changed the script.

Forget whether you agree with the choice. Study how it works. An ending is the last instruction you give your audience about how to read everything before it.

By ending on consequence instead of recovery, Levinson reframed seven years of beautiful chaos as a story about cost — not a celebration of it.

It’s also the show’s most debatable move, and that’s worth noticing too. A show that spent years making pain look beautiful had to fight to make that pain land as loss. Did it earn the ending, or enjoy the wreckage too long to stick it? Smart filmmakers will disagree — and that argument is exactly what a good ending is supposed to start.

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What Not to Take

The neon grief is the most copied part. It’s also the least useful. Take the surface — the colors, the slow-mo, the trauma-as-texture — and you get the costume without the body.

The real craft is underneath. Commit your camera to a real point of view. Make every stylistic choice earn its place. Treat your ending as the point of the whole thing. Do that, and your work won’t look like Euphoria. It’ll do what Euphoria did.


This piece touches on addiction and substance use. If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available through the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.

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How a 22-Person Film Crew Each Walked Away With $300,000

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In the spring of 2020, with Hollywood shut down and most film workers suddenly out of a job, Zendaya made a movie in a single house with a crew of 22. The film was Malcolm & Marie. What happened to that crew afterward is the part worth paying attention to — and it’s quietly become a blueprint indie filmmakers are borrowing five years later.

Instead of paying everyone the standard flat day rate and sending them home, Zendaya structured the production so the crew owned a piece of it. They received “points” — a share of the film’s revenue.

When Malcolm & Marie sold to Netflix for roughly $30 million, those points turned into real money. Because one point typically equals 1%, a single point on that sale was worth around $300,000.

For a crew used to being paid by the day, that’s a life-changing number.

The Math That Makes It Click

The reason points are so powerful is that their value scales with the film, not with your hours on set:

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  • At $30 million in revenue, 1% equals $300,000
  • At $50 million, 1% equals $500,000
  • At $100 million, 1% equals $1 million

Now hold that against traditional indie crew pay, which runs roughly $300 to $800 per day. A 20-day shoot totals somewhere between $6,000 and $16,000 — full stop, no upside, no matter how well the film does. The points model flips the entire logic: you stop getting paid for time and start getting paid for success.

This Isn’t New — It’s Just Newly Accessible

Backend deals are how the biggest names in Hollywood get rich. Robert Downey Jr. reportedly earned tens of millions from his Avengers: Endgame backend; Keanu Reeves made a fortune off The Matrix through profit participation. The leverage to demand that kind of deal has always belonged to A-list stars.

What changed with Malcolm & Marie is who got a seat at the table. Zendaya didn’t reserve the points for herself and a couple of producers — she extended them to the crew, the people she described as laying the tracks and doing the heavy lifting. That’s the shift indie filmmakers are now studying: ownership as something you share down the call sheet, not hoard at the top.

Why Indie Filmmakers Should Care

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Independent films usually run on budgets between $50,000 and $500,000, where labor can eat up 40% to 60% of total costs. That creates a permanent squeeze: how do you attract genuinely skilled people without torching the budget before you’ve shot a frame?

Equity is the pressure valve. Offering ownership instead of higher upfront pay lets you reduce immediate production costs, attract more experienced collaborators, and — maybe most importantly — build a team that actually wants the film to win.

How to Apply It to Your Own Project

You don’t need a $30 million Netflix sale for this to work. Say your budget is $250,000 and your revenue goal is $500,000, making 1% worth $5,000. Instead of stretching cash thin across every line item, you might offer 1% to a cinematographer, 1% to an editor, and 1–2% to a producer. You preserve cash during production and hand your key people a real reason to overdeliver.

Ownership Changes How People Show Up

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A stake rewires behavior. People who own a piece of the outcome stay sharper on set, pitch in on marketing and promotion without being asked, and stay invested long after wrap. That last part matters more than it sounds — a crew that’s financially tied to the film becomes part of its distribution engine, not just its production.

Read the Fine Print

Equity is not a salary, and it’s honest to say so. Malcolm & Marie worked because it sold to Netflix at a high price — that’s the upside scenario, not a guarantee. If a project underperforms, points can be worth little or nothing. So if you use this model, do it cleanly: define revenue participation explicitly in contracts, spell out recoupment structures so everyone knows who gets paid and in what order, and offer partial upfront payment where you can to balance the risk. The whole thing runs on trust, and trust runs on transparency.

The Bigger Picture

What Zendaya pulled off with a 22-person crew in one house pointed to something larger about how creative work gets valued. In an industry where funding is the hardest wall to climb, ownership has become its own currency. You may not control access to millions in financing — but you fully control how value gets shared on your set. And that, more often than not, is the difference between a film that stalls in development and one that actually gets made.

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