Heroes Spoilers (Page 21)

Tim Kring, creator of Heroes, recently sat down with Superherohype.com. Here's what the writer had to say:

Q: Is everyone coming back for Season Two?
Kring: Well, I don't want to spoil that for the fans. Clearly we left things up in the air with several of the characters and we want to make sure that the fans don't know what's going to happen so that it doesn't spoil their [enjoyment].

Q: You said 24 episodes. Does that mean no one really died?
Kring: Again, you really just have to wait.

Q: But you're keeping them available so you can bring them back?
Kring: Exactly, they're all on retainer just in case they're needed. [joking]

Q: You have at least eight new or recurring characters. How has it been integrating them in the writing?
Kring: A lot of it was planned for and felt fairly natural. So it's a big cast. One of the things that we are doing this year, because we're not asking the audience to start absolutely from scratch, we're not so concerned about every episode having every single character in it. So we're able to sort of pull back in the ebb and flow and let certain characters come to the surface for an episode and sit out an episode.

Q: Are you talking more about episodes like "Company Man" where it's focused on one story?
Kring: Yes, exactly. The idea of being able to focus on a couple of characters is something that we really learned last year as a very valuable thing to do, but you had to have earned enough interest in those characters to be able to then focus on them.

Q: How are you creating feudal Japan in modern day Los Angeles?
Kring: Well, as we know, Los Angeles has doubled for many, many things. On this show it's doubled for a lot of things. So it's a fairly, I will say, rural view of feudal Japan which allows us to use a lot of the outlying areas like the Santa Monica Mountains and north of here.

Q: Are you going to do anything this season for fans who didn't watch last season to be able to jump in and understand what's happening?
Kring: Yes, that is a big part of what we're doing. I mean, one of the things that I sort of learned in the first season was that we called season one Volume One and it was entitled "Genesis." It just happened to be twenty three episodes long. Volume II is entitled "Generations" and it by no means has to be an entire season long. I wouldn't expect it to be an entire season long.

In fact we're looking at that volume to end in the middle of the season which allows us to wrap up certain stories and allows us to have new stories begin. So you don't get a sense that if you jump on the train that you're aggressively being pushed off of the train because you don't know what's going on. That's a big concern with us.

Q: Do you see the second season as being two big archs or do you not know yet about the second half?
Kring: Well, it's designed to be three. We'll see how that works out.

Q: So will there be some kind of recap for people who didn't see last season?
Kring: Only slightly because the actual episode itself, it's an episode entitled "Four Months Later" and so we pick up the stories four months after we left off at the end of the season. There is tremendous mystery in what happened during those four months and that's part of why you're watching these first few episodes. They're revealing what actually happened. So the recap, in a way, is sort of built into the story.

Q: How do you feel about the mixed fan reaction to the finale?
Kring: I didn't really experience the mixed fan reaction. I heard anecdotally that people loved it and clearly on a show like this, again this is one of the problems with a big serialized show which is that by the time you get to twenty three episodes in you're dragging a tremendous amount of story behind you. So when people wait that long for answers it gets very hard to satisfy people.

This is another reason why I think these volumes are really the way to go because it allows us to not have people build up expectations for so long as to how things are going to be resolved. When you build up for a whole year with a show like this it has an addictive quality to it and so it has to really pay off. Sometimes those expectations are too high for a mere television show.

To read the entire interview, click here.

With Heroes finally returning on September 24, the following couple of details about the second season premiere have been revealed:

• The first episode centers around Claire.
• The episode will feature a villainous Japanese warlord known as "White Beard," various old Japanese villagers and Tuko, a West-African man working for Irish mobster Ricky.
• We'll meet new series regular Maya, a Hispanic woman in her mid 20s, played by Dania Ramirez. The episode will also introduce Kane, a recurring character that may become a regular.
• Hiro Nakamura will remain in the past for a few episodes.

During the on-set press conference in which creator Tim Kring announced a Heroes global tour, sponsored by Nissan, other details about season two emerged.

Here is a summary:

• According to Greg Grunberg, he begins filming today. After realizing that he'd sort of let the cat out of the bag, he said: "Well, I could be on a hospital bed ... or in a coffin."

Hayden Panettiere tried to help by joking that the entire cast would be standing around, lowering him into the ground. Therefore, it's a pretty safe bet Matt will survive those four bullets to the chest.

• Sylar (pictured) will be back.

• The end of season one, with Hiro in Japan wasn't really the ending ... it was a teaser of the first scene from the first episode of season two. Hiro will be in feudal Japan for "a handful of episodes," according to Kring.

• Kring envisions season two as consisting of three big story arcs.

• Heroes: Origins is an "anthology show." However, it's not a midseason show; it will air after the season two finale, and not during sweeps. They have not yet begun writing or filming it.

• Adrian Pasdar was sporting a full beard, and Milo Ventimiglia had an extremely short haircut.

We know you need your fix of Heroes spoilers for season two.

Fortunately, Michael Ausiello of TV Guide is here to hook you up with information on next season.

I caught up with Hayden Panettiere at last Thursday's Entourage premiere and she revealed that the first episode picks up four months after the finale.

"A lot of things happened [during those four months] that people don't know about," she teased. "A lot of things changed and people will be like, 'Whoa!'"

The portrayer of Claire Bennet also hinted that someone did NOT survive the season-ending bloodbath, and here's more on who that may be:

NBC is holding a Heroes press conference tomorrow on the show's set, and all primary cast members will be present and accounted for. That includes Santiago Cabrera, Jack Coleman, Greg Grunberg, Ali Larter, Masi Oka, Hayden Panettiere, Adrian Pasdar, Zachary Quinto, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Leonard Roberts and Milo Ventimiglia.

Hmmm... someone is missing from that list. Do you know who?

Now that Nathan Petrelli is a true hero (a willingness to sacrifice yourself to save millions of lives pretty much guarantees you that status for life), fans are wondering if we'll see this redeemed character in season two.

All signs points point to yes.

Masi Oka and Adrian Pasdar (pictured) were in Canada at an event to promote Heroes' Canadian network Global's fall schedule earlier in the month. Naturally, the sheer presence of Pasdar should be enough to convince anyone that he will be present and accounted for in the next season of Heroes.

But cementing his place on the show even more, Pasdar later commented on what he thought of the story for season two.

"I feel good about the direction it's heading in, I think it's across the boards surprising for each character and for each audience member, whoever their favorite character is. It takes a wildly different arc then you might think. Season two is going to be a big surprise."

And what about the future of Ando. The last time we saw him, Hiro had transported his pal back to Japan. Fortunately, Oka told the crowd that Ando would definitely be returning.

"Hiro made a promise that he'll be back. Hiro is beginning his journey in the second season and he'll be by himself for a while, but I'm sure we'll see Ando in some context, so I wouldn't count it out."

At least one of the mysterious new Heroes has been revealed.

Dania Ramirez, who enjoyed a recurring role on HBO's The Sopranos as AJ's ex-fiancee, will join Peter Petrelli, Hiro Nakamura, and the rest of the super friends next season as a regular, reports Reuters.

Ramirez should have no problem conjuring up a few powers for the part: she played Callisto in X-Men: The Last Stand.

Heroes still has yet to announce which actors will take over the remaining new characters that season two will introduce fans to: an Irish mobster; a surrogate for Niki/Jessica's son; a late-20s African-American mother; and a boyfriend for Claire.

E! Online posted a brief interview with Hayden Panettiere last week.

When commenting on season two of Heroes, the faux cheerleader said the following about a possible love interest:

"This show has been so broad, and it's been such an incredible thing that it seems like it can go anywhere and that she can go anywhere, so I'd like to see a change of location maybe.

Toward the end of the season, I'd like to see her get a little bit of a change of style—more sophisticated, growing into her own. I'd like to see a boy in the horizon somewhere, which I've heard rumors of."