Impulse (TV series)

Main

• Maddie Hasson as Henrietta "Henry" Coles, a teenage girl who possesses the ability to teleport, though has no control over her destination. She first realizes she has this capability while in the middle of being sexually assaulted. She also possesses inherent telekinetic abilities, though not as known as her teleportation. Carina Battrick portrays a young Henry Coles in a recurring role.
• Sarah Desjardins as Jenna Faith Hope, Henry's stepsister. Initially cold and distant towards Henry, she becomes closer with her upon discovering that she was sexually assaulted.
• Enuka Okuma as Deputy Anna Hulce, a deputy sheriff in Reston investigating the incident in which Clay Boone was left disabled.
• Craig Arnold as Lucas Boone, a local mechanic, drug trafficker, and the eldest son of car and drug dealer Bill Boone.
• Tanner Stine as Clay Boone, a star of the local football team and Bill Boone's youngest son. A classmate' of Henry's, Clay develops an interest in her when she begins attending school. While making out in his car, he attempts to rape her which causes her to have a seizure, telekinetically destroy most his truck and teleport for the first time, and leave him disabled.
• Keegan-Michael Key as Michael Pearce^{[lower-alpha 1]}, a man who also possesses the ability to teleport across long distances at will.
• Missi Pyle as Cleo Coles, Henry's mother

Recurring

Guest

Development

On December 15, 2016, it was announced that YouTube had commissioned a television pilot entitled Impulse from a script by Jeffrey Lieber, with revisions by Gary Spinelli, based on the novel by Steven Gould. It was to be produced by the production companies Hypnotic and Universal Cable Productions with Doug Liman, David Bartis, and Gene Klein of Hypnotic reported to be executive producers. Liman was also expected to direct the pilot as well.^[2][3]

On June 27, 2017, it was announced that YouTube had given the production a series order with a premiere tentatively set for 2018.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

On January 13, 2018, it was announced at the annual Television Critics Association winter press tour that producer/writer Lauren LeFranc had joined the series in the position of showrunner and executive producer.^[1] On May 10, 2018, YouTube Red announced, alongside the release of the first official trailer, that the series would premiere on June 6, 2018.^[9] On July 19, 2018, it was announced that the series had been renewed for a second season consisting of ten episodes to premiere in 2019.^[10]

Casting

Simultaneously with the announcement of the pilot order, it was confirmed that Maddie Hasson, Sarah Desjardins, Missi Pyle, Enuka Okuma, and Craig Arnold had been cast as series regulars. In addition, it was reported that David James Elliott would appear in the series in a recurring role.^[2][3][11]

Filming

Production for the pilot began in Toronto, Canada on December 16, 2016.^[2][3] Filming continued in the Cayuga community in Haldimand County, Ontario at locations including Cayuga Secondary School, the Cayuga Administration Building, Haldimand Motors, Toronto Motorsports Park, a resident's farm, as well as many other facilities. On January 13, 2017, the production filmed an accident scene on Kohler Road in Cayuga.^[12] On October 13, 2017, filming for a portion of the rest of the series took place in the Carlisle community of Hamilton, Ontario.^[13]

Marketing

On March 22, 2018, YouTube released the first teaser trailer for the series.^[14] On March 24, 2018, the show hosted a panel at the annual WonderCon fan convention in Anaheim, California. It was moderated by IGN's Laura Prudom and featured executive producers Liman and Gene Klein, showrunner Lauren LeFranc and actors Maddie Hasson, Missi Pyle and Daniel Maslany.^[14] On May 10, 2018, the first official trailer was released.^[9] On May 30, 2018, YouTube made the first episode available to those owning a Google Assistant.^[15] From June 5–7, 2018, YouTube employed the use of viral marketing with the assistance of popular YouTube creators Kendall Rae, Karina Garcia, Cam's Creations, Nichole Jacklyne, Ayydubs, and JacksFilms. During the span of those days, the content creators embedded footage of Keon Alexander's character Dominick from the series teleporting into and out of their videos.^[16]

Premiere

On June 7, 2018, the series held its official premiere at the Roxy Cinema in New York City. The premiere included a screening followed by a question and answer session featuring executive producer Doug Liman and lead actress Maddie Hasson.^[17]