Lewis Pullman Played A Major Marvel Star's Love Interest Before Joining The MCU

After appearing in the massively popular legacy sequel "Top Gun: Maverick" in 2022 as Lt. Robert "Bob" Floyd and before he joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Robert Reynolds, also known as Sentry, in "Thunderbolts*," Lewis Pullman played Brie Larson's love interest. Yes, you read that right — Sentry and Captain Marvel were romantically involved in an Apple TV+ series titled "Lessons in Chemistry."

In the miniseries based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Bonnie Garmus, Pullman (whose father is, you guessed it, Bill Pullman) portrays Calvin Evans, a brilliant scientist working at the Hastings Research Institute in California. When Calvin meets lab technician Elizabeth Zott (Larson), he's blown away by her scientific genius, only to learn that she never got her PhD and can't rise in the ranks at the institute simply because she's a woman. Before long, the two are personally and professionally involved ... but early in the story, tragedy strikes. While Calvin is out for a run with the unmarried couple's dog, Six Thirty, he loses the dog's leash and is involved in a traffic accident. After Calvin's death, Elizabeth realizes that she's pregnant and, as a single mother hoping to work as a legitimate scientist, gives birth to a daughter who inherits both her and Calvin's considerable intelligence.

Ultimately, Pullman only appears in two episodes while he's alive, but reappears in flashbacks throughout, including the show's penultimate episode "Book of Calvin," which fills in his missing life story. Pullman is unquestionably excellent in the series — he even earned an Emmy nod for best supporting actor in a limited series for the role — so what did critics think of his "chemistry" with Captain Marvel herself?

"Touching on several hot-button issues while benefitting immensely from a perfect pinch of Brie Larson, 'Lessons in Chemistry's' ambitious ingredients add up to satisfying entertainment," Rotten Tomatoes declares in its critical consensus for the miniseries, giving it an overall critical rating of 86%. As far as individual critics were concerned, the series was great.

Eliana Dockterman honed in on the central pairing of Lewis Pullman and Brie Larson as Calvin and Elizabeth in her review for Time Magazine, writing, "The best part of 'Lessons in Chemistry?' The show actually lets its leads have chemistry." Angie Han also praised it for The Hollywood Reporter, saying, "It's worth tucking into, thanks to an endearing cast, witty dialogue and easily digestible themes." RogerEbert.com's Cristina Escobar lavished praise upon the showrunner: "Creator Lee Eisenberg crafts an aspirational fairytale, building a positively lovely universe and central heroine to spend eight episodes with."

Over at Slate, Laura Miller thought the series improved upon the source material, writing, "Thanks to solid scripts and a handful of sensitive performances, the series ends up richer and more thoughtful than the book." 

Lewis Pullman has proven himself as an incredibly charismatic and talented actor throughout his career so far, but I have to admit that, as a big fan of the original book, I'm particularly fond of his performance as Calvin in "Lessons in Chemistry." In an interview about the miniseries with Cosmopolitan in November 2023, Pullman cheekily apologized for making audiences cry thanks to his on-screen death and revealed to interviewer Emma Baty that he and Brie Larson didn't have a chemistry read ... but that it all worked out perfectly in the end.

"We didn't have a chemistry read for 'Lessons in Chemistry,'" Pullman admitted, apparently embracing the particular irony of that statement. "We tried to build the scaffolding by workshopping a lot of things and not being afraid to try and fail and land on exactly what it was about these two people that made them such a magnet to each other. They found each other in such a rare, statistically unlikely scenario, especially because they're such particular people."

After saying that Larson — who was also an executive producer on the series — worked behind the scenes to make the cast feel welcome by starting board game sessions between takes with things like Boggle and Catchphrase, Pullman broke down exactly why Calvin and Elizabeth's romance is so irresistible and so grounded.

"It's a very fresh-feeling romance, and they are these very awkward people. They don't abide by a lot of social norms, and they don't like most people, or they don't get along with most people, which makes the likelihood of them finding somebody that they get along with decently, let alone fall in love with, extremely improbable. It's so fun to play people who aren't used to being in romantic relationships. It's almost like the age-old alien comes to Earth and tries to assimilate with humanity."

"Thunderbolts*" is in theaters now, and "Lessons in Chemistry" is streaming in its entirety on Apple TV+.