From director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow), YouTube today is premiering their new series Impulse based on Liman’s 2008 film Jumper which was itself based on a 1992 book by Steven Gould.
This time around, the lead character is a female named Henry (Maddie Hasson). Here’s how YouTube describes the series which will be part of their YouTube Red premium slate:
IMPULSE is a genre-bending action-thriller from Universal Cable Productions (UCP). Hypnotic’s Doug Liman (“Bourne Identity,” “Live. Die. Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow”) executive produced the series. Hypnotic’s David Bartis and Gene Klein, who produce UCP’s hit series “Suits,” served as executive producers. Lauren LeFranc (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D”) also served as an executive producer and the series showrunner. The television story is by Jeffrey Lieber (“Lost”), with the teleplay by Jeffrey Lieber, Jason Horwitch (Marvel’s “Luke Cage”), and Gary Spinelli (“American Made”). Based on the third novel in the “Jumper” series by Steven Gould, IMPULSE features a rebellious 16-year-old girl “Henry” played by Maddie Hasson (“Twisted,” “The Finder”). Missi Pyle (“Gone Girl,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”) plays “Henry’s” mother “Cleo.”
“I wanted another shot at it because, of all my films, it was the one I was least happy with,” Liman said of returning to Jumper when appearing at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, California earlier this year. “I think there’s something about teleportation that speaks to me really personally, and it was that we came up with this idea that she teleports back. Like, it’s not teleportation is more of a curse than it is a blessing, because for somebody who wants to leave the town, she keeps getting sent back to it. Combining sort of making the superpower more of a curse than a ‘Oh, isn’t this awesome’; really, Lauren [writer Lauren LeFranc] was able to take that and run with that. Because Henry keeps getting sent back home and keeps getting sent back to this town, we get to get deeper and deeper into these characters.”
While YouTube Red is subscription-based, and all ten episodes of Season 1 are already available on the platform, YouTube is making the first three episodes available to watch for FREE for the first 30 days. This gives audiences a chance to sample the series — which, we warn you, does get dark — and if they like it, there’s more where that came from.
Check out episodes 1-3 below.
