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Netflix’s Pulse cast is led by Willa Fitzgerald as Dr. Danielle “Danny” Simms and Colin Woodell as Dr. Xander Phillips, two emergency-medicine residents whose professional relationship becomes the central pressure point of the series. Around them, the 10-episode medical drama brings together residents, surgeons, nurses, a medical student, and an EMT working at fictional Maguire Medical Center, a Miami Level 1 trauma center.
Here is a complete guide to the actors and characters in Pulse, including the hospital hierarchy that shapes the story and the show’s current status after its first-season cancellation.
Pulse cast at a glance
| Actor | Character | Role at Maguire Medical Center |
|---|---|---|
| Willa Fitzgerald | Dr. Danielle “Danny” Simms | Third-year emergency-medicine resident and unexpected chief resident |
| Colin Woodell | Dr. Xander Phillips | Chief resident of emergency medicine |
| Jessie T. Usher | Dr. Sam Elijah | Third-year emergency-medicine resident |
| Jessy Yates | Dr. Harper Simms | Second-year emergency-medicine resident |
| Jack Bannon | Dr. Tom Cole | Second-year surgical resident |
| Chelsea Muirhead | Dr. Sophie Chan | Surgical intern |
| Daniela Nieves | Camila Perez | Third-year medical student |
| Justina Machado | Dr. Natalie Cruz | Chair of surgery and emergency medicine |
| Néstor Carbonell | Dr. Ruben Soriano | Senior surgeon |
| Arturo Del Puerto | Luis Dominguez | ER charge nurse |
| Jessica Rothe | Cass Himmelstein | Senior ER nurse |
| Santiago Segura | Gabriel Moreno | ER nurse |
| Ash Santos | Nia Washington | Miami-Dade County EMT |
| Sophia Torres | Vero | Natalie Cruz’s daughter |
The show’s central promotional ensemble consists of Fitzgerald, Woodell, Machado, Bannon, Usher, Muirhead, Nieves, and Yates. The wider cast fills out the hospital’s surgical, nursing, and emergency-medical-services teams.
Willa Fitzgerald as Dr. Danielle “Danny” Simms
Willa Fitzgerald plays Dr. Danielle “Danny” Simms, the series’ protagonist. Danny is a third-year emergency-medicine resident at Maguire who is unexpectedly promoted to chief resident after the fallout from her relationship with Xander Phillips.
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Danny is a gifted and deeply empathetic doctor in training, but leadership exposes traits that are harder for her to manage. She is brash, prone to self-sabotage, and uncomfortable with becoming the subject of hospital gossip. Her main challenge is therefore not simply proving that she can treat patients. She must learn whether she can lead colleagues while her private life has become public controversy.
That career-versus-personal-life conflict gives Pulse its narrative center. Danny’s decisions affect the emergency department, her friendship with Sam, her relationship with her sister Harper, and the balance of power between her and Xander.
Colin Woodell as Dr. Xander Phillips
Colin Woodell plays Dr. Xander Phillips, the chief resident of emergency medicine and Danny’s romantic counterpart. Xander projects confidence, charisma, and authority, making him a natural-seeming leader in the hospital. His background complicates that image: he comes from one of Miami’s most powerful medical families and is trying to earn recognition as an individual rather than remain defined by the Phillips name.
Xander is also Danny’s supervisor, which makes their relationship professionally consequential even before the hospital-wide fallout begins. His history with nearby Kennedy Hospital becomes an important source of uncertainty, particularly as the season moves toward its final episode.
The central Danny–Xander relationship is not a side plot attached to a medical procedural. It is the mechanism through which Pulse tests questions of authority, reputation, ambition, and institutional power.
Emergency medicine: Sam and Harper
Jessie T. Usher as Dr. Sam Elijah
Jessie T. Usher plays Dr. Sam Elijah, Danny’s best friend and a fellow third-year emergency-medicine resident. Sam also applied for the chief-resident position, so Danny’s promotion creates a professional rivalry as well as personal friction.
Sam is calm, considered, competitive, and medically capable. He is still affected by lingering feelings for Danny, but reducing him to one corner of a love triangle misses the character’s more important function. Sam is simultaneously Danny’s friend, rival, emotional confidant, and one of the people most able to challenge her professionally.
Jessy Yates as Dr. Harper Simms
Jessy Yates plays Dr. Harper Simms, a self-assured and introspective second-year emergency-medicine resident and Danny’s younger sister. Harper uses a wheelchair, which is presented as one part of her character rather than as a substitute for her professional identity.
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The sisters are deeply connected, but their family relationship is not conflict-free. Harper’s perspective gives the show another way to examine Danny’s choices: she knows Danny as a physician under pressure, but also as a sibling whose ambition and impulsiveness can affect the whole family.
Harper’s wheelchair use belongs to the character. The available official material does not establish anything about Jessy Yates’s personal disability status, so the actor and the role should not be conflated.
Surgery: Tom, Sophie, and Ruben
Jack Bannon as Dr. Tom Cole
Jack Bannon plays Dr. Tom Cole, a witty and charming British second-year surgical resident. Tom came to Maguire for its trauma program and the Miami lifestyle, but the move places him inside a demanding surgical hierarchy and an increasingly complicated web of relationships.
Tom’s professional and romantic connections reach across departments. He works under senior surgeons, oversees Sophie, and becomes connected to both senior ER nurse Cass Himmelstein and EMT Nia Washington. Those relationships make him one of the ensemble’s main sources of conflict between personal attraction and workplace responsibility.
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According to Netflix’s character material, Tom’s British background was not part of the creators’ initial conception of the role. The production adjusted the character after Bannon’s audition, making the detail a useful example of how an actor can shape a part without changing its basic place in the ensemble.
Chelsea Muirhead as Dr. Sophie Chan
Chelsea Muirhead plays Dr. Sophie Chan, a smart and capable surgical intern determined to become an excellent surgeon. As an intern, Sophie occupies a lower position in the hospital hierarchy than Tom and has to navigate the demands of training while trying to establish her own professional identity.
Tom’s lack of support creates a significant obstacle for her. Sophie is not merely a junior figure waiting for an opportunity; her competence and determination make the imbalance between her ambitions and the support she receives part of her storyline.
Daniela Nieves as Camila Perez
Daniela Nieves plays Camila Perez, an optimistic third-year medical student and a local newcomer to Maguire. Camila is not yet a doctor, resident, or attending physician. Her position as a medical student matters because she is working within the hospital while still at an earlier stage of medical training.
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She arrives during a hurricane and is eager to help despite long hours and a heavy workload. Camila works closely with Sophie, and the two form one of the show’s most important junior-medical friendships. Their chemistry provides a grounded counterpoint to the more volatile relationships among the senior residents.
Néstor Carbonell as Dr. Ruben Soriano
Néstor Carbonell plays Dr. Ruben Soriano, a respected and demanding senior surgeon. Ruben prioritizes his work and expects residents to show the same level of commitment. He represents the traditional, high-pressure side of surgical training and adds another layer of authority above Tom and Sophie.
Justina Machado as Dr. Natalie Cruz
Justina Machado plays Dr. Natalie Cruz, the chair of surgery and emergency medicine and the senior leadership figure at Maguire Medical Center. Natalie sits at the intersection of hospital administration and clinical medicine, making her the character most directly connected to the institution’s politics.
She is politically savvy, highly intelligent, and protective of her daughter, Vero. When Vero arrives at Maguire and faces a medical crisis, Natalie has to confront the ethical limits of her authority and the danger of allowing family loyalty to influence professional decisions.
Natalie is more than the hospital executive who supervises the younger doctors. Her position connects the residents’ personal conflicts to the larger question of who controls Maguire and how its leaders respond when reputation, ethics, and patient care collide.
Nursing and emergency medical services
Arturo Del Puerto as Luis Dominguez
Arturo Del Puerto plays Luis Dominguez, Maguire’s ER charge nurse. Luis is unflappable, witty, and widely respected by the staff. As charge nurse, he is part of the operational backbone of the emergency department, helping connect physicians, nurses, and the practical demands of a busy trauma center.
Jessica Rothe as Cass Himmelstein
Jessica Rothe plays Cass Himmelstein, a senior ER nurse who is politically adept within Maguire. Cass is also romantically involved with Tom, tying the nursing staff to the surgical-resident storyline and adding another professional relationship that can become personally complicated.
Santiago Segura as Gabriel Moreno
Santiago Segura plays Gabriel Moreno, a competent ER nurse and team player who is difficult to impress. Gabriel’s presence reinforces that the emergency department is not defined only by its doctors. Nursing staff have their own expertise, standards, and judgments about the residents working around them.
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Ash Santos as Nia Washington
Ash Santos plays Nia Washington, a confident and scrappy Miami-Dade County EMT. Nia brings the pre-hospital emergency perspective into the Maguire ensemble and develops a connection with Tom, creating another link between emergency medical services, surgery, and the hospital’s personal drama.
Sophia Torres as Vero
Sophia Torres plays Vero, Natalie Cruz’s daughter. Vero’s medical crisis is important not because she is part of the hospital staff, but because her arrival turns Natalie’s leadership position into an ethical test. Natalie must balance her responsibilities as a parent with the obligations and boundaries of a senior hospital authority.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is Pulse about?
Pulse is a 2025 English-language medical procedural drama set at fictional Maguire Medical Center in Miami. Netflix describes Maguire as a Level 1 trauma center, where emergency-medicine residents handle medical crises alongside professional rivalries and personal relationships.
The season begins with Danny’s unexpected promotion to chief resident after the fallout from her relationship with Xander. That controversy is set against the pressures of emergency care and a hurricane threatening Miami. The result is a cast-led ensemble story: the cases create immediate pressure, while the hospital’s hierarchy determines who has authority, who is still training, and who bears responsibility when decisions go wrong.
The distinction between roles is central to the show. Danny, Xander, Sam, and Harper are emergency-medicine residents at different training levels; Tom and Sophie belong to surgery at different stages; Camila is still a medical student; Luis, Cass, and Gabriel are nurses; Nia works as an EMT; and Natalie and Ruben occupy senior leadership or surgical positions.
How many episodes of Pulse are there?
Pulse has one released season of 10 episodes. The episode titles are:
- “Abby”
- “Alone Time”
- “Power”
- “Treat ’Em and Street ’Em”
- “Nothing Personal”
- “Homestead”
- “Choices”
- “Retreat”
- “The Last Shift”
- “Kennedy”
The final episode, “Kennedy,” sets up a new academic year and a new chief resident while Xander reveals what happened at his former hospital. Those developments give the finale the shape of a continuation, but they should not be mistaken for confirmation that more episodes were ordered.
Was Pulse renewed for Season 2?
No. Netflix canceled Pulse after one season in July 2025. The 10-episode first season is therefore the show’s complete released run, and there is no confirmed Pulse Season 2 cast or forthcoming second season to report.
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That status is worth stating clearly because the finale leaves some story threads open. An ending that establishes a new academic year is not the same as a renewal. For now, the actors and characters listed above belong to the completed first season.
Who created Pulse?
Pulse was created by Zoe Robyn, who also served as showrunner, with Carlton Cuse serving as showrunner and executive producer. Netflix announced the project in February 2024 as its first procedural medical-drama series. The series premiered on Netflix on April 3, 2025.
The production also prepared the cast for the show’s medical language and procedures. That preparation should not be interpreted as evidence that the actors are medical professionals or performed clinical work outside the production.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are the main actors in Netflix’s Pulse?
The principal cast includes Willa Fitzgerald as Danny Simms, Colin Woodell as Xander Phillips, Jessie T. Usher as Sam Elijah, Justina Machado as Natalie Cruz, Jack Bannon as Tom Cole, Chelsea Muirhead as Sophie Chan, Daniela Nieves as Camila Perez, and Jessy Yates as Harper Simms.
Is Camila Perez a doctor in Pulse?
No. Daniela Nieves’s character Camila Perez is a third-year medical student at Maguire Medical Center, not a resident or attending physician.
Is Pulse getting a second season?
No. Netflix canceled Pulse after its first season in July 2025. The series has 10 released episodes.
Where is Pulse set?
The series is set at fictional Maguire Medical Center, a Level 1 trauma center in Miami.
The Bottom Line
The Pulse cast is built around Danny Simms and Xander Phillips, but the hospital feels like an ensemble because every professional level has a distinct place in the story. Emergency residents, surgeons, nurses, a medical student, an EMT, and hospital leadership all contribute to the show’s conflicts. With Netflix’s cancellation after Season 1, the 10-episode run is the complete released story.
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