QUANTUM LEAP: Caitlin Bassett Previews Ben and Addison’s Entanglement with Guest Stars Justin Hartley and Sofia Pernas

On the Monday, October 10 hour of QUANTUM LEAP, “A Decent Proposal,” Ben (Raymond Lee) finds himself in the ’80s…as a female bounty hunter.

Luckily for him, he’s got his constant (hologram) companion, Addison (Caitlin Bassett) by his side to watch his back. “It’s so lovely that Ben leaps into a woman, because I love the moments in the show where Addison gets to have her popcorn and just watch him struggle,” Bassett tells Give Me My Remote with a laugh. “Because it’s like, ‘You’re fine. Nothing bad’s gonna happen. You’re just on the struggle bus right now, and I’m going to enjoy it, because I’m not.’ I think that is one of the best parts of the show, for my character, at least.”

Of course, Ben has a task to complete while he’s there—and he immediately finds himself entangled with the bounty hunter’s work and life partner (played by guest star Justin Hartley) and the target they’re after (played by Sofia Pernas).

“Coming off the back of episode 3, which is high drama, huge stakes from the beginning, everything going on at HQ is bananas—there’s a fight, it’s intense. And then we get to 4, which essentially, for most episode, we’re like, ‘Oh, we just gotta go catch a person. That’s all? That’s all we’re gonna do? It’s just one thing?'” Bassett acknowledges. “And it rests on the four actors: Sofia, Justin, Ray, and myself. You just get to see characters be in a character situation. That’s really nice, because it’s the gift of QUANTUM LEAP: you can have this intense drama, you can be in space, you can be in a title match, or you can be in a relationship in the middle of somebody’s life, turning a chapter, and handle that without knowing the complexities of it. I love that they put them back-to-back, because I do think it it really shows what QUANTUM LEAP can do as a show.”

Bassett also enjoyed getting to collaborate with Hartley and Pernas for the hour. “They’re married, and what’s also cool is they’re best friends,” she says. “They adore each other and they are cracking up the whole time. They’re just a joy to be around. And, you know, there was an aspect of like, ‘Oh god, that’s Justin Hartley. He’s a big deal. And it’s his wife. What if they don’t even want to be involved?’ And they were so excited to be there.”

“Justin was a huge fan of the original,” she continues. “Sofia is one of the nicest, most talented, warmest people—she speaks like five languages. She’s amazing. The whole time, I was like, ‘I just want to talk to you guys’…which I think actually kind of translated on the screen, because they were just so interesting to be around; it worked on- and off-camera. Which was fun.”

The bit of lightness comes at a good time for Addison, who struggled in the last episode with pushing herself too hard—to the point she collapsed. “I think [Ernie Hudson’s] Magic said it [best]: This is a marathon, not a sprint now,” Bassett acknowledges. “And as heartbreaking as that is, because she wanted with all of her heart to be able to throw herself at this wall as hard as possible and it to break [so they can bring Ben home], it’s just not going to.”

“This is somewhere Addison and Caitlin align very heavily,” she continues. “I think it was really nice as an actor who also has that proclivity to hit that wall, [to] be like, ‘Okay, this is a marathon. This is not a sprint.’ If Caitlin is going to show up for Addison in the show, and Addison is going to show up for Ben, you also have to take care of yourself. And I’m so glad they wrote that into the show, because I think it’s something people can relate to.”

Despite Addison’s ongoing balance struggle, Bassett has enjoyed getting to be the conduit between the show’s home base and leaps. “It’s been a challenge, for sure, but it’s also been quite a gift,” she says. “Ray never has his footing, ever [in the show]…he’s constantly treading water, and I get to come back to literal home base. But also emotional home base. I love like the ending of [episode] 3, where I go home and the team comes over and I get to find these little moments of safety.”

QUANTUM LEAP, Mondays, 10/9c, NBC

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