Quantum Leap Taps Manifest’s Melissa Roxburgh to Guest-Star in Season 2

Melissa Roxburgh will make the leap from Manifest to Quantum Leap.

During Quantum Leap’s panel Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con, NBC announced that Roxburgh will guest-star in the sci-fi drama’s Season 2 premiere, set for Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 9/8c.

Francois Arnaud (Midnight Texas), Aaron Abrams (Hannibal, Blindspot), and P.J. Byrne (The Boys, Shazam! Fury of the Gods) are also slated to appear in the episode.

Additionally, the network showed the first eight minutes of the season opener, which will not be posted online.

The lengthy sneak peek confirmed that — spoilers ahead! — Ben (played by Raymond Lee) didn’t make it home, as was hinted in the Season 1 finale. Instead, he winds up in the body of a man named Perez on a plane in 1978, flying somewhere over Russia. Scared, frustrated and cut off from the Quantum Leap headquarters, Ben has no choice but to proceed with the leap on his own.

Perez’s cohorts — played by Roxburgh, Arnaud, Abrams, and Byrne — are down-and-out members of the air force, tasked with a secret mission to transport a mystery crate to New Delhi. However, the plane is shot down by missiles before they can reach their location. Whatever is being delivered in that giant crate is extremely important, because Roxburgh’s character risks her life (and Ben’s) to get it off the plane before the plane explodes.

Details about Season 2 remain scarce, but showrunner Martin Gero previously told TVLine that new episodes will be “even more focused on the leaps,” giving space for the NBC show’s secondary characters to really grow. “It’s deeply, deeply emotional in a way that I think is going to be surprising and exciting,” he teased. (Read our full Season 1 finale interview with Gero here.)

Are you excited for the new casting additions? What do you hope to see in Season 2?