Posted in: Current News, Digital, Editor's Picks TV News, Movies, TV, YouTube | Tagged: doug liman, HRL, impulse, jumper, online, steven gould, streaming, television, tv, youtube, youtube red

YouTube Red Jump-Starts Liman's 'Impulse' To Series

YouTube Red continues adding to their original programming slate with the announcement that Impulse, directed and executive-produced by Doug Liman (Swingers, Edge of Tomorrow) from author Steven Gould's Jumper series, has received a series order for a 2018 premiere.

By green-lighting the sci-fi thriller/drama, YouTube Red is adding to a lineup that also includes recently-announced sci-fi drama Lifeline from Dwayne Johnson and Studio71, Dan Harmon's gaming comedy Good Game, and Step Up: High Water, a reboot of the Step Up franchise.

Impulse is actually based on the third novel in Gould's Jumper series and focuses on 16-year-old Henry (Maddie Hasson), a rebellious teenager who feels disconnected from everyone around her and longs to escape the confines of her small-town life. Her life soon changes when she discovers that she has the ability to teleport anywhere she wants — and that she's not alone. Unfortunately for Henry, there are those who see her powers as a curse…and will do anything to stop her.

Hasson's most recent work includes her role as Willa Monday in Fox's The Finder (2012), and co-starring with Tom Hiddleston in 2015's Hank Williams bio pic, I Saw the Light. Rounding out the cast for Impulse are Missi Pyle (Another Period), Sarah Desjardins (Van Helsing), Enuka Okuma (Rookie Blue) and Craig Arnold (Heartland); with David James Elliott (Secrets and Lies) set for a reoccurring role. The series pilot is written by Jeffrey Lieber (Lost, Lucifer), Jason Horwitch (Marvel's Luke Cage) and Gary Spinelli (Stash House), with Liman taking on directorial chores.

Liman is no stranger to Gould's universe, having directed 20th Century Fox's adaptation of Jumper (the first book in the series) in 2008. Starring Hayden Christiansen and with a supporting cast that included Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Diane Lane, and Michael Rooker, Jumper would go on to gross over $222 million globally.

For Susanne Daniels, Global Head of Original Content, YouTube, the decision to pick up the series was one made early in the screening process:

"This unique thriller pulled us in right from the opening scene. We are thrilled to be in business with Doug Liman and everyone at UCP and Hypnotic."

For Hypnotic and UCP, this is their second pilot/series pick-up in the past week, with SyFy giving the green-light for a pilot for Nightflyers, a supernatural thriller based on George R.R. Martin's (Game of Thrones) novella and the 1987 film adaptation.

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