‘Quantum Leap’ Series Finale Ending Explained: Did Ben Return? Did He Reunite With Addison?

Quantum Leap answered some major questions — but also introduced a lot of new ones — in its shocking series finale.

The NBC series, which premiered in 2022 and recently dropped on Netflix, was a revival of the ’90s science-fiction series set 30 years after the original show concluded. Quantum Leap followed Ben Song (Raymond Lee) after he made a secret leap through time and got lost in the past. With help from his now-ex Addison (Caitlin Bassett) and the rest of the Quantum Leap team, Ben tried to figure out what caused him to alter history.

Season 1 featured Ben and his loved ones trying to get him back. The sophomore season, meanwhile, made Ben realize that he needed to continue leaping through time for the greater good. There was also a three-year time jump introduced on the show, which created more distance between Ben and the Quantum Leap team.

It all built up to the October 2023 finale when a complex equation was introduced as the key to bringing Ben home. But in order for Ben to return, someone else had to go in and take his place. Addison, who was originally supposed to leap, volunteered to make the sacrifice this time around.

But instead of a swap, Addison wound up in the same timeline with Ben, where the former couple got to touch each other for the first time in years. Their reunion was bittersweet since they were now both leaping while stuck through time and space.

“At the end of season 1, we left on a cliffhanger and it took until the end of the season 2 premiere to realize that, ‘Oh, this is a new setup.’ By the end of season 2, you’re going to know how different season 3 is going to be,” Bassett, 35, exclusively told Us Weekly at the time about the future of the sci-fi series.

Bassett praised how the conclusion to season 2 offered a glimpse at future story lines, adding, “[It is] cool because fans get to decide like, ‘Oh, I want to see that. Or not.’ It was a brilliant move by the writers and the last episode — it just feels like a new adventure. It’s so cool. So I hope people enjoy it.”

Lee, 38, also weighed in on the onscreen changes setting up for another season.

“One of the main objectives for season 2 was to do away with the mythology a little bit because we’ve established that so well in the first season. The second season we really wanted to invest in the interpersonal relationships,” he explained to Us that same month. “We wanted to present another obstacle for Ben and we wanted to see how all this would intermingle.”

In addition to Lee and Bassett, Quantum Leap starred Mason Alexander Park, Nanrisa Lee and Ernie Hudson. Despite Quantum Leap setting things up for a third season, NBC officially pulled the plug on the show in April 2024. Quantum Leap was introduced to a new group of fans when the two seasons were released on Netflix in August 2025.