‘Quantum Leap’ EPs Talk Mystery of Hannah, Guest Star Tim Matheson & More

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode 3 “Closure Encounters.”]

We had so many questions going into Quantum Leap Season 2 — and that was before Eliza Taylor‘s casting was announced. Now, we’re wondering who exactly Hannah Carson is, and it’s in the third episode that we meet her.

Before the season, Hannah was described as “a complex young woman who may be more than she appears.” It’s while, during a leap, investigating “aliens” (it’s the government) in 1949 in New Mexico that Ben (Raymond Lee) first encounters her, working as a waitress. She believes in all kinds of impossible things, she tells him. He turns to her for help during the jump, then goes to see her and thank her after.

To his surprise, she knows the general theory of relativity, and she explains that she wanted to be a scientist. She studied mathematics and physics and got a job as a programmer during the war on the first electro-mechanical computer. But that job went away when the war ended, like for most women. Ben directs her to Professor Yates at Princeton, about to open up his physics program to female candidates. He thinks she’s the kind of person he’s looking for. And she’s the one who decides they should say “see you later” instead of “goodbye,” clearly leaving the door open for her return. (Taylor is a series regular.)

Executive producer Deborah Pratt and executive producer and directing producer Chris Grismer are both careful when speaking about Hannah, whose story is still unfolding. (You can’t look to Season 1 for any clues.)

“We wanted to introduce her in a way where you knew that she was going to be a part of it, but we don’t want to give away too much of what her role in the show is going to be going forward,” Grismer explains to TV Insider. “She’s such a great actor, and the character is so compelling — I think it’s literally my favorite story that we’ve told in the show so far — and she just lights up the screen.”

With those first scenes with Ben and Hannah, “we wanted to explore their chemistry a bit and see him finding a little beacon. He doesn’t find them very often in his leaps — someone he connects with someone that he has an affinity for,” he continues. “They have such an obvious chemistry onscreen.”

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Adds Pratt, “She’s a smart woman from another time where intelligent women aren’t respected and Ben is so supportive of her and inspirational to her that I think the idea of finding someone who he can relate to” is one of the many “story threads woven into this tapestry of Season 2.” For Ben, “it’s nice to have a smart woman in the field that he’s in — [ex-fiancée] Addison [Caitlin Bassett] wasn’t — and I think we can look forward to the possibility of him being able to bump into somebody that he cares about.”

The Season 2 trailer reveals that at some point, Ben is going to tell Hannah he’s a time traveler. (That means that future encounters for the two could very well see her at a much different point in her life.) That’s going to put her in a club that doesn’t have very many members. “What does that mean, and what would you do if you had that information?” Pratt ponders.

As for that conversation itself, “that’s an amazing moment,” Grismer teases. “And it only gets more amazing.”

Elsewhere in the episode, Ben, recovering from the realization that, in the three years it had been for Addison (she thought he was dead), she’d moved on, takes more risks than usual during the leap. “There is sort of a bull in a china shop mentality to him a little bit,” says Grismer. “He’s lost his past to some extent and all he has is that leap, and so he just pushes through it probably a little bit more headstrong than he is usually. He’s dropping some of his scientific analysis and just sort of blindly heading in based on his emotion and his instincts, and it’s an interesting thing to watch.”

Does that mean it might be better for both Ben and Addison if someone else took over as his hologram? “Having a break is helpful for them, but ultimately I think they both know that she’s very helpful to him as a hologram and like they say in 203, they do love each other and they do have a strong history and a strong connection,” Grismer points out. “So it does help with his tasks that he has in each leap.”

“Closure Encounters” also reveals that Janis (Georgina Reilly) is working for the NSA in Hawai’i. Will she turn up in Season 2? “We may see her at some point,” is all Grismer would say, while Pratt calls that location likely just “one of the stops on her journey.”

The end of the episode set up the next leap for Ben, one that includes guest star Tim Matheson! He tells whoever Ben has leapt into that they’ll hit them tonight, take care of the guards, and when they get inside, Ben will grab a statue. Then, they’ll light up the place to make sure there are no survivors.

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Neither EP would share any plot details about the episode, but Grismer admits, “I got giddy when Tim Matheson was on the set, because I’m a huge fan.” Adds Pratt, “Tim is wonderful in that episode. He’s charming, he’s funny, he really brings a lot to the table.”

As an overview of the kind of leap Ben’s in, she continues, “there’s also the kind of earthquake reality of, if you don’t do certain things, you can’t get home. You can’t even get to the next leap.” It’s also “a really sweet story,” she promises. “I go back to, what are the what ifs that the audience can invest in? I just think that’s the jewel of the show and that’s the opportunity that the writers of the sequel are moving toward to really polish those jewels and talk about those opportunities and add a little history.”

Quantum Leap, Wednesdays, 8/7c, NBC