Doug Liman to resurrect Jumper as a TV series for YouTube Red

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The general concept behind JUMPER was a promising one, a young man discovers he has the power to "jump" instantaneously to any location that he can visualize accurately and uses those powers like many of us would, to show off and amass a stolen fortune. He soon discovers that he's not the only "Jumper" in the world and that a group of religious extremists, called Paladins, have tasked themselves with tracking down and killing every Jumper they can find. Sounds not too bad, right? Unfortunately the film by Doug Liman wound feeling rushed and bogged down by unfinished story elements. That's not to say it was entirely bad, the visuals behind the Jumper's abilities were dazzling more often than not, but flashy effects do not a franchise make…usually.

After close to a decade, it seems that we'll finally be learning more about the Jumpers and their world. The Wrap reports that Universal Cable Productions (UCP) have made a deal with YouTube in order to bring the franchise back. Dubbed Impulse, the 60-minute drama will be based on the third novel in the "Jumper" series by Steven Gould. The YouTube Red series will follow "a rebellious 16-year-old girl, who has always felt different from her peers and has longed to escape from her seemingly quaint small town. When a local drug dealer attempts to assault her, she discovers her extraordinary ability to teleport. This newfound power confirms her conviction that she really is different from everybody else, but it now makes her the focus of those who want to control her." In the novel, that young girl is the daughter of the character's played by Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson in JUMPER. Production on the pilot is set to get underway before the end of the year with Jeffrey Lieber handling scripting duties and Doug Liman once again stepping into the director's chair. In a press release, Doug Liman said:

Steven Gould’s sequel novel to ‘Jumper,’ ‘Impulse,’ fully realizes the dynamic potential of this amazing franchise and I’m excited to have the large canvas of YouTube to bring it to life.

Any excitement to see JUMPER resurrected as a YouTube Red series?