I think Henry feels kind of above it all as a way to defend herself from people that she thinks won’t accept her, and so she has this sort of “too cool for school” kind of attitude, which I think is common when you feel scared of rejection and scared of not being accepted.ĪX: Henry likes to do graffiti. I didn’t want to let anybody in, I didn’t want to let anybody see my true self. HASSON: For me, Henry is somebody that I think, as a teenager, before I really came into myself, I very much was Henry. HASSON: How it was explained to me is, she goes into this seizure because it’s kind of her body vibrating between these two places, and then there’s a collapse of gravity around her, and she returns back to her bedroom, which is kind of her safe place that she always goes back to.ĪX: What is the core of Henry for you? What was the aspect that enabled you go, “Well, I know this about her,” to get into her? I spoke to somebody I know personally who’s had seizures, which was a huge help to me, and I watched a lot of videos, and did a lot of practice, and I tried to make it look as real as possible.ĪX: What is actually happening to Henry in story terms when she’s having one of these events? She does not want the assault to have happened, and I think in the same way, she doesn’t want to think about teleportation, because that makes it all real.ĪX: Did you study people with epilepsy or any kind of other seizure issues for when Henry has her pre-teleporting seizures? I think it’s a long road for her to be able to get a handle on it, because it’s so connected to this assault, and I think in the beginning, she does not want to think about the assault. It’s very much a way of escaping something. So it’s not very traditional superpowered, superhero-y. And it happens in situations when she’s protecting herself.
We realize that these seizures are her body trying to teleport, and eventually she does. She originally thinks that she has seizures, so she’s going to the doctor all the time, she’s not allowed to drive a car, they think she has epilepsy. I think for me in the show, it’s not very superpower-y. HASSON: That’s a difficult question to answer. How much would you say Henry’s ability is an analogy for that, and how much is it an actual superpower? HASSON: Yeah, we’re filming in Toronto, and it’s very cold.ĪX: Where are you meant to be – that is, where is IMPULSE set?ĪX: Henry’s superpower seems like it could be a metaphor for the transition that people hopefully go through some time in adolescence, of starting to figure out who you are as an adult, and starting to figure out that you can have a voice and a presence that has an impact. MADDIE HASSON: I auditioned, and they liked me, and then I got a callback, and then I got a screen test, and then I got it. MERCEDES.Īfter a Q&A panel for IMPULSE, Hasson takes time to discuss her work on the show in greater detail.ĪSSIGNMENT X: How did you become involved with IMPULSE? Her film and television credits include THE FINDER, TWISTED, I SAW THE LIGHT, NOVITIATE and MR.
Hasson, originally from North Carolina, began dancing at age seven before moving on to acting.
During an extreme trauma, Henry discovers that she can teleport, but cannot control the ability.
In YouTube Premium’s new series IMPULSE, now streaming its ten-episode first season, Maddie Hasson plays small-town teenager Henrietta “Henry” Cole. Maddie Hasson in IMPULSE – Season 1 | ©2018 YouTube Premium/Erin Keating