[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Pulse.]

Summary

Jessie T. Usher distinguishes between his characters in ‘Pulse’ and ‘The Boys,’ in terms of saving lives versus taking lives.

Usher discusses the stamina and challenges of portraying a doctor while wearing scrubs compared to playing a superhero in a super suit.

Usher expresses excitement about open storylines and potential power dynamics in a possible second season of ‘Pulse.’

The Netflix medical drama Pulse is set in Miami’s busiest Level 1 Trauma Center, where third-year resident Dr. Danny Simms (Willa Fitzgerald) finds herself in the position of being considered for a promotion that is only possible because she’s responsible for Chief Resident Dr. Xander Phillips’ (Colin Woodell) suspension. Also at Maguire Medical Hospital is Dr. Sam Elijah (Jessie T. Usher), third-year emergency medicine resident and Danny’s best friend who realizes that she’s been hiding a pretty big secret from him, and Dr. Harper Simms (Jessy Yates), Danny’s younger sister who shares rather sizeable family drama with her sibling.
During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Usher discussed how his The Boys character A-Train has taken lives while his Pulse character Dr. Sam Elijah saves them, the stamina it takes to look and sound like a real doctor, wearing a super suit versus scrubs, the dynamic with Danny, the challenge of throwing a hurricane on top of all the other hospital drama, and his hope for a possible Season 2. He also talked about why he wanted to avoid learning too much as they shoot the final season of The Boys.
Collider: You’ve talked about how the obvious difference between Pulse and The Boys is the fact that you take lives on The Boys while you’re saving lives on Pulse. Did you realize that comparison from the start of this?
JESSIE T. USHER: It took me a second for it to register in my head in that way. I knew that there was going to be a huge contrast between the motivation of A-Train and Dr. Sam Elijah. I knew they were motivated by completely polar opposite things, but the more I thought about the most drastic difference between those two characters – that A-Train takes lives and Dr. Elijah’s whole purpose is saving them – I thought it was ironic and funny. But it took me a minute to get there.
It seems like The Boys is probably mentally and physically exhausting in its own way, but in a very different way from this show. Does it take a different kind of stamina to do a series like this, where you have to not only sound like a doctor, but you have to look like one too?
USHER: 100%. Honestly, the pressure from getting in character for A-Train is so vastly different than the prep in getting into Samuel Elijah. I feel like he’s also a little bit more reserved. A-Train is boisterous. He’s got that big superhero energy, where Sam Elijah is moving real smooth under the radar. He moves with purpose. He does have an impact on the room when he gets in there, but it’s a very different energy than what I was doing with A-Train. It’s also more tedious. There are a lot of intricate things that take place in the scenes in the hospital, especially when we’re working on patients. I’m working very different muscles, and mental muscles as well, just to make sure I understand what all is happening so that I don’t look like I’m lost.
Jessie T. Usher Compares His ‘The Boys’ Super Suit to Wearing Scrubs in ‘Pulse’

“I didn’t feel entirely like Sam Elijah until I put the white coat on.”

You get a super suit for The Boys, but you’re wearing scrubs in Pulse. Does that play into the preparation for the character?
USHER: Yeah, 100%, especially when it’s something drastic like that. I went from the super suit, which you can only really feel heroic in, to scrubs. I feel like most doctors that I’ve interacted with throughout my life all have the same demeanor and carry themselves a certain way when they’re in the white coat and they have the stethoscope around their neck and they have the gloves on and they’re dealing with patients. It was the most apparent to me when I was doing scenes with children. When the young kids come on set and I’m fully dressed as a doctor and I walk into the rehearsal looking that way, they react as if a real doctor just walked in. The kids get nervous, they start asking questions, and they get a little more clingy towards their parents. I had to get into that mode of, “I’m not a real doctor. I’m just an actor like you.” You become that when you have that appearance and you see the way that other people interact with you because of it. It definitely does play a huge part in the preparation. I didn’t feel entirely like Sam Elijah until I put the white coat on.
One of the things I always find interesting about a medical show is thinking about how, if this were a real hospital and these were the real doctors you would find there, how you would feel about putting your life in their hands. How would you feel if you found yourself in the care of these doctors, and specifically your doctor at this hospital?
USHER: Honestly, the doctors on our show are pretty good. I feel pretty confident in them and their ability. They’re very knowledgeable. They have great instincts. They also have a nice team. They lean on each other in a lot of ways. They work together to diagnose and to treat patients. I feel like most of them, if not all of them, really do care about the well-being of their patients. It’s very personal for them. So, if I woke up and was at Maguire Hospital, I could take a breath of relief because at least I know that my doctors care enough about me not to misdiagnosis me and send me off on my own. They’re going to keep me there and do their due diligence. And on top of that, their success rate is pretty good, so I would trust them with some serious work.

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“The ways that we interact in romantic relationships are always a product of the world that we grew up in,” says Fitzgerald, about Danny and Phillips.

Whatever is going on between Danny and Phillips at the center of the series, your character finds himself in this position of having thought he was tight with Danny, but not really knowing what’s going on with her brain. What is that like for him to deal with, over the season? Did he think they were tighter than that?
USHER: They do have the level of tightness and companionship that he thought that they had, but not everybody can portray emotions in the exact same way that he does or how he would expect. He just had to make an adjustment there. At the end of the season, he still trusts and loves Danny and has that same close friendship and kinship to her that he had at the beginning of the season. But her being who she is and the trajectory that she’s taken since we’ve met, she’s obviously going to only trust him this much and maybe this is her way of saying that versus my way of saying it. He just had to step back and understand that, like in medicine, not every doctor is going to come in and do the same operation the exact same way. There are multiple different ways to skin a cat, as they say. He understands that her intentions are good and his feelings towards her haven’t changed. He does understand that she is her own human being. He’s taking that for what it is, and he’s also being as fluid as he possibly can be, so that he can maintain the relationship that actually matters to him.
Jessie T. Usher Doesn’t See the Dynamic Between Elijah, Danny and Phillips as a Love Triangle

“Danny and Elijah had a past thing.”

Image via Netflix

Obviously there are some feelings there, at least for him. Do you see that as a love triangle?
USHER: I don’t see it as a love triangle because he wasn’t aware of Phillips. If he and Phillips knew that they both had a thing for Danny, then it would have become triangular. But in this situation, Phillips and Danny have a secret thing, and Danny and Elijah had a past thing. It’s not something that they’re both actively trying to keep alive. It’s something that Elijah hasn’t 100% let go of. I feel like he’s wrapped up in whatever that is in his head more than in actuality. Phillips didn’t even come into the picture until later in the season. It’s episode six or seven that he finally realizes, “Holy smokes, I’ve been in the middle of this thing and didn’t realize it this whole time.” That’s a bit of a wake-up call for him.
Aside from Danny, who would you say your character is closest to at work?
USHER: He and Harper have a very tight, close relationship. They’ve had enough vulnerable conversations with one another to be able to go there in their times of need. They both care about Danny. They can put themselves second and help the team. They’re both involved in the success of the hospital in that same way. They look out for each other personally as well. They have fun together. They joke a lot. We see a flirtatiousness between the two of them. And then, I actually think that he and Luis have a stronger relationship than what we’ve seen, and I hope we’ll get to explore that in the future because Luis is the authoritative figure on the floor. He’s the nurse that runs the floor. I also think he admires the work that Luis does and the amount of time and attention that he puts into it. So now, being in this role of leadership, I think he and Luis will connect a little bit more to keep things under control.

8:53

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What was the most fun or the most challenging aspect of the different cases?
USHER: The hurricane stuff was definitely one of the more challenging, elements. We did multiple episodes with the hurricane where we were messing around with the lights or the temperature in the hospital, so that we were sweaty and exhausted. It added a level of pressure for the medicine because these doctors weren’t equipped with everything that they would need in order to do their job, which makes it a little more difficult for them. And then, there was the physicality of it too. They brought in the rain towers and big wind jets and they were blasting us in the face with freezing cold rain while we were trying to assess a patient outside. That’s something I’ve never had to do before. We were lifting light poles off of cars and dragging guys on gurneys from outside in the hurricane and straight into the trauma center, so that we could operate, was definitely something different, that’s for sure.
‘Pulse’s Jessie T. Usher Wants Answers for the Finale’s Unanswered Questions

“I like how many open doors there are.”

Image via Netflix

By the end of the season, things are shaken up in a way that affects everything and everyone and will continue to do so in a possible second season. How did you feel about the way everything is left at the end of the season, and what would you be most interested in seeing in Season 2?
USHER: I like how many open doors there are. I like how many unanswered questions we have. It allows the drama to unfold. The plot will thicken, inevitably. I’m really excited to see how Dr. Cruz has to work against her competitor because they have a history. Sam Elijah and Dr. Cruz have always worked together and she liked him. She was considering making him the Chief Resident for a reason, even though she didn’t go with him. So, there will be a weird shift of power because she’s no longer involved in the trauma side of things. She’s just on the surgical side and will have to watch from the outside. The power dynamic between those two characters is going to be really interesting to see play out. Sam Elijah will have to play that middle ground, where he doesn’t want to piss off Dr. Cruz, but he’s also got a new boss and he’s going to have to manage his position in this corporation.

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Your character has also had such an interesting arc on The Boys. Who would have known that A-train would have a redemption journey on that show? What did you think of his arc over the last season, and what is it like to go into the last season of the show, knowing it’s the last season?
USHER: This is the first time that’s happened in my career. Normally, you find out on hiatus that the show is not coming back. I’ve never gone into a fifth season knowing that it was going to be the final season. And it is a bit bittersweet. We’re happy that we made it to the fifth season. I know when we started the show, Eric Kripke told us the dream was to do five seasons. He laid the land down in front of us, but it sounded like a dream at the time. We’re all very thankful that we made it this far and that we’ve been able to do it the way that we wanted to. From the very beginning, that was the plan, and it’s nice to see it coming together with this nice bow that we’re preparing for everyone. I’m going to miss them. I’m going to miss my supes. I’m going to miss the team. I’m going to miss all the directors. I’m going to miss the stunt crew. We’ve been a family for a long time, so I’m going to miss everyone. I got to go from that crew over to this one on Pulse. I’m excited to take what I’ve learned from The Boys and apply it to this set. Hopefully, we’ll take this show to another five seasons.
Jessie T. Usher Didn’t Want to Know Too Much About the Final Season of ‘The Boys’

“I’m trying my hardest to be surprised.”

Image via Prime Video

Do you know how it all ends on The Boys?
USHER: I’m trying to avoid knowing, at all costs. I’m doing everything I can to avoid it. When I get to the top of a script and I think A-Train is not in it, I’m skipping past it because I don’t want to know. I’m trying my hardest to be surprised, so that I can enjoy the process too. Who knows when I will be in another situation like this, so it’s just nice to take it in from all angles.

Pulse

Release Date

April 3, 2025

Network

Netflix

Directors

Kate Dennis

Pulse is available to stream on Netflix. Check out the trailer: