Experiments in pulsed hollow cathode discharges demonstrate that long‐lived species, with lifetime of the order of seconds, play a significant role in the formation of the discharge in nitrogen. Detailed studies show that the effect is strongest in the hollow cathode region. Similar effects are not observed in hydrogen. A simplified model of the destruction of the N2(A3&Sgr;+u) state has been adopted to study the relevance of this level. The possible roles of the metastables in the formation of pulsed hollow cathode discharges are discussed.