Playing Abe Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre? Scott Bakula is taking the leap.

Consider his 2024 output: After heading off-Broadway to star in the new musical “The Connector” and returning to his summer stock roots by playing the main role in a New Hampshire revival of “Man of La Mancha,” Bakula is capping his year with a uniquely audacious undertaking: the titular role in Herbert Mitgang’s 1979 solo play “Mister Lincoln.” And the venue? That would be Ford’s Theatre.

“I’ve always said I’m going to end my career back where I started: on the stage,” Bakula says, before adding with a wry smile: “This is, ‘Be careful what you wish for.’”

Sporting athleisure and a tousled mop of graying hair, Bakula exudes boyish enthusiasm for his craft during a recent break from rehearsal at the National Union Building in downtown D.C. Rest has been sparse for the 69-year-old actor — he zipped straight from the final performance of “La Mancha” to the first rehearsal for “Mister Lincoln,” with a single travel day in between — but Bakula figures he’ll have time to recharge once the play’s three-week run ends Oct. 13.

“I think, at heart, he’s a theater guy,” Ford’s Theatre Director Paul R. Tetreault says. “I think that he lucked out and fell into some amazing television projects, and every great theater person should be able to have that just to give themselves some comfort and some retirement ability. But at the end of the day, he loves the theater.”

Bakula traces that adoration to childhood experiences catching “The Wizard of Oz” and “Show Boat” at the Muny in St. Louis and listening to his parents’ “Cabaret” and “Mame” cast albums, as well as his performing debut as a 13-year-old singing the title role in “Amahl and the Night Visitors” at his Presbyterian church. After moving to New York, he plugged away at touring productions, regional theater and other thankless acting gigs for the better part of a decade before breaking into Broadway in his late 20s.

By the time Bakula landed the lead in “Quantum Leap,” shortly after his Tony-nominated turn in the intimate musical “Romance/Romance,” his onstage experience had given him the tools to spearhead the sci-fi procedural from 1989 to 1993.

“And most people won’t do” theater, Bakula says, “because everybody now just wants to go fast famous.”

Pivoting from Dr. Samuel Beckett in “Quantum Leap” to Captain Jonathan Archer in “Star Trek: Enterprise,” and from Terry Elliott in “Men of a Certain Age” to Special Agent Dwayne Pride in “NCIS: New Orleans,” Bakula got in the habit of booking years-long leading man gigs. All the while, stage work went on the back burner. After Bakula made his West End debut in 2011’s “Terrible Advice,” his seven-season “NCIS” run forced him to turn down many an offer to return to theater.

“Those were painful at times,” Bakula says. “But you’ve got to be careful. [I thought,] ‘I have a great job. I’m making really good money, and I’m going to ride this. People would die to be on this series that I’m doing, and having that kind of security and that kind of opportunity.’ So you try and stay a little bit humble in it.”

Although Bakula has an ongoing relationship with Ford’s — he starred in a 2006 revival of “Shenandoah” and has hosted several galas for the theater over the years — Tetreault glanced at the actor’s suddenly-packed theater itinerary and assumed he’d pass on “Mister Lincoln.” But beyond the obvious allure of taking a crack at such a towering figure, Bakula was interested, amid the ever-divisive election-year discourse, in shining a light on Lincoln as a bipartisan ideal to strive toward.

“I liken [Lincoln] to Joe Biden a lot, in that Joe Biden is a lifetime politician who walked the walk, in my opinion,” Bakula says of the outgoing president. “He invited people in from both sides, he worked with everybody, and he made that his goal in order to get things done. Lincoln was famous for having people in his Cabinet that were against him, that he ran against, all these kinds of things, because he wanted the best man for the job or he liked somebody that would give him pushback.”

While the script does include grandiose recitations of the Emancipation Proclamation and Gettysburg Address, Bakula also notes it’s Mitgang’s understated portrayal of Lincoln the man — not the myth — that attracted him to the part. Recounting his humble origins, zigzagging political trajectory and reverberating presidency, this version of Lincoln trades in doubt and self-reflection.

“Although Scott’s body of work exhibits tremendous range, people see him as a leading man of TV that only is expected to play these heroic parts,” says José Carrasquillo, the production’s director. “One of the things this role requires is an actor who’s willing to show vulnerability and emotion … and I think he’s the perfect guy to do that because he has the chops to do it, and he’s not afraid to do it.”

If there was a silver lining to Bakula playing Lincoln immediately after “La Mancha,” it was that he didn’t have time to dwell on the part. When it comes to inhabiting the 16th president — on a stage beneath the box where Lincoln was shot, 44 years since Roy Dotrice last performed the show at Ford’s — the weight of the role doesn’t need any extra baggage.

Typically with this play, “the set is: Build Ford’s Theatre inside somewhere and have a piece of the box as part of the set,” Bakula says. So at Ford’s, “it makes so much sense. Where else can the show take place?”

If you go

Mister Lincoln

Ford’s Theatre, 511 10th St NW. 888-616-0270. fords.org.

Dates: Sept. 20-Oct. 13.

Prices: $26-$53.