Scott Bakula has played many roles over the years, but for those of a certain age, he’ll always be Sam, the time-leaping, body-jumping physicist who found himself in a sticky situation on every episode of Quantum Leap. Recently, Bakula was reunited with his old co-star and good friend Dean Stockwell, and talked about the show that brought the two of them together.

The duo became as close as brothers on the set, and Bakula says they still talk on the phone. But they hadn’t had the chance to work together since an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, until they were brought together once again by NCIS: New Orleans.

“We talk on the phone. I’ve seen him over the years, but we’ve only worked one other time, shooting an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. The three of us have a lot of history. And then you throw in the mix Steven Weber from Wings — we all hit the same time, around the early ’90s. So, it was a good day for the old guys. We laughed and reminisced. … It’s so much fun,” he said.

Though the ending wasn’t what many fans would have chosen, Bakula told Zap2It recently that Quantum Leap was left open-ended because there needed to be space to continue if it ever got picked up again, or if a movie was ever written.

“I think that if people understand the circumstances that (creator Donald) Bellisario wrote that episode under — we didn’t know we were canceled at the time. That’s more the norm now, they know it’s their last season, so they can wrap up loose ends. But we didn’t know that.
So Don had to write an episode of this series that would allow us to come back if they picked is up, or it would allow for a future if there was going to be a movie, or allow it to also be a final episode if that were to be the case. I feel like if you watch the episode given that information, it becomes even more spectacular. He left doors open, he wrapped some things up, he made people feel good, there was a ton of emotion in it — it was just a metaphor for the show that continues and lives on to this day. Fans out there or people like Sam are out there going around and making things right for other people,” he said.

The episode of NCIS: New Orleans which reunites Bakula and Stockwell airs tonight on CBS.