Summary
s a new era ofTerminatorbegins, fans of ’80s and ’90s sci-fi have reason to hope thatQuantum Leapmight also get a new lease on life. In October, anambitious newTerminatorseries from Dynamite Entertainmentwill unleash Skynet’s most ambitious plan yet. Unable to stop John Connor before he forms the human resistance,Skynet is deploying Terminators across time, targeting not just future resistance members but their ancestors in a desperate Blitzkrieg of history.
Talking about the new series withDynamite Entertainment, writer Declan Shalvey shared his inspirations for the series. Shalvey has also worked on recentAliencomics for Marvel and is currently working onaThunderCatsprequel with Dynamite, becoming a major force in adapting some of the ’80s most beloved pop culture. Asked if there are any other ’80s franchises he dreams of working on,Shalvey not only namesQuantum Leapas his ideal project, but also admits that this desire has influenced hisTerminatorwriting.
Asked if he has a particular fondness for ’80s pop culture, Shalvey said that his involvement withAlien,TerminatorandThunderCatshas given that impression, admitting that while he hasn’t been specifically chasing opportunities to work with these franchises, his dream project is also an ’80s show continuation. Shalvey says:
Once I was asked if there was a license I’d like to do, what would it be? And my answer was Quantum Leap, because I love that show. And I realized the other day that actually I’m kind of doing that with Terminator, except it’s Quantum Leap from hell. And that’s just interesting, the one thing I’d like to do I’ve kind of made it into something else.
Cover Artist:
Declan Shalvey
The plans to kill Sarah Connor and her son John have failed, but the genocidal Skynet isn’t out of options yet. There are still a few more avenues into the past that will allow it to destroy the human resistance that is poised to smash its processors into silicon shrapnel - it just needs to expand its theater of operations.
Opening a new front in the war, Terminators are dispatched across the globe and throughout time to target current resistance fighters, their ancestors, and anyone else unlucky enough to be in the strike zones. And while none of these secondary assignments are as straightforward as the missions of the first T-800 and T-1000, time is literally on the machines' side. When all of history becomes a war zone, nowhere - and nowhen - is safe!
Skynet’s Darkest Terminator Has a Twisted Advantage Over the T-800
It’s one thing for a Terminator to disguise its voice or to appear human, but one deadly disguise turns every human instinct on its head.
Terminator’s Declan Shalvey Admits Quantum Leap Inspired the Series
Terminators Will Leap All Across Time to Beat Humanity
Running from 1989 to 1993,Quantum Leapstarred Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett - a time traveler who inhabits the bodies of different people across time for as long as it takes to correct major mistakes in their lives. The beloved series famouslyends with Sam Beckett still leaping through time, inspiring decades of continued fan interest. The series received a revival in 2022, following the original continuity but without Bakula.
It’s easy to see what Shalvey means about hisTerminatorseries being ‘Quantum Leap from hell,’ as Terminators are deployed across the timeline. Of course, the killing machines aren’t there to correct ‘mistakes,’ but rather to use time travel to vanquish the future human resistance before it forms. Skynet is reaching further and farther than before, taking big chances in its final grasp at survival. Shalvey shares in the interview thateach issue will follow a different Terminator, promising a series of fascinating one-and-done stories about different people facing the implacable killing machines- just as Sam Beckett was continually thrust into new and unfamiliar situations.
Shalvey also shares thatThe Terminatorhas a secret overarching story that will emerge as the series goes on, revealing a connection between Skynet’s latest targets.
It’s a truly exciting premise for a series that’s been away from comics for way too long, but it’s also a good sign forQuantum Leapfans that Shalvey - a major name in comics - is so interested in putting his spin on the franchise. It would be a truly bizarre pop culture coincidence for the rejuvenatedTerminatorcomics to finally create the opportunity forQuantum Leap’s Sam Beckett to leap home, but in the history of comics, far stranger things have happened.
Quantum Leap
Cast
Set thirty years after the events of the original television series; Quantum Leap is a sci-fi adventure that follows Dr. Ben Song, the new lead physicist who leads the government project known as “Quantum Leap.” Following in the footsteps of Dr. Sam Beckett, Sam hopes to figure out why the original creator disappeared - but along the way, he is met by a hologram of a Dr. Addison, who reveals to him the secrets of how to leap. As Ben jumps from host to host, trying to correct wayward events, his team works tirelessly to bring him home.
