Fans of the 2006 hit TV show "Heroes" will be ecstatic to know that there will be a 13-episode revival titled "Heroes Reborn" which will have a two-hour debut this fall.
There are a lot of questions left hanging on how the storyline will play out after its abrupt ending in Season 4. Luckily, "Heroes" creator Tim Kring dished out details to satisfy your curiosity. Be warned, major spoilers ahead.
E! News reported that Hayden Panettiere's Claire Bennet character is dead and will not be part of "Heroes Reborn." At the 2015 Television Critics Association summer press junket, creator Tim Kring said, "She died a year prior to our story starting."
"That sort of gets into the mythology that's attached to the original show."
The old mythology will be discovered by new viewers through Claire's father, H.R.G, portrayed by Jack Coleman, as Kring detailed that the returning character "gets to uncover some of that mythology for us."
While Hayden Panettiere won't be coming back to suit up for her iconic role in "Heroes Reborn," familiar faces will once again grace the TV show starting with Greg Grunberg as Matt Parkman, Sendhil Ramamurthy as Mohinder Suresh, Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura, Cristin Rose as Angela Petrelli and Noah Gray Cabey as Micah Sanders. Milo Ventimiglia, Zachary Quinto and Ali Larter will be sorely missed.
If you're wondering why some actors won't be coming back, it all boils down to the actors' schedule and whether they were needed in the show.
Kring explained, "Some of the people, some of the actors, did not have the availability because they were involved in other things. The story was really the thing that dictated who would come back."
"The show was always designed to be very elastic in its premise. I always saw it as a show that could repopulate itself. I wanted to make it something that was easy for brand new viewers to watch. For them, caring about new characters is just as important as having former cast in the show."
Still, fans won't get to see characters such as Mohinder and Hiro in every episode. "None of the former characters except for Jack's character is in every episode. All the characters that return are peppered in and out of the show," Kring confirmed.
The new cast includes Ryan Guzman, Danika Yarosh, Robbie Kay, Judi Shekoni, Henry Zebrowski, Kiki Sukezane, Zachary Levi, and Gatlin Green.
If you want more "Heroes Reborn" spoilers. Read on for the storyline.
According to Entertainment Weekly, a year before the show's premiere, those with extraordinary skills went into hiding from the people who sought to avenge the loved ones that they lost in a terrorist attack in Odessa, Texas. That's where Zachary Levi's character emerges.
The attack is also one of the important reasons why Hayden Panettierre was not included among those returning actors who will reprise their roles. "In the real world of the story, [her character Claire Bennet] died a year prior to our story starting," said Kring. "That gets into some of the mythology that's attached to the original show." This is the reason why H.R.G. will guide new viewers of the show in exposing some of the backstory from the first run.
"Heroes Reborn" will start the story five years after Claire shared her abilities to the public. Kring said, "It was almost an obligatory baton pass to where we needed to go from there," recalling the previous season finale. "Because we didn't get to have that fifth season, I did always have that in my mind that there was an unfinished nature to it... This world has become a very different place."
"There's something really great about this: This is not the fifth season, this is actually the 10th season as if there were seasons in-between. I had always wanted to tell the story of when the world discovers these people."
As per The Hollywood Reporter, "Heroes" was a fan favorite and became a phenomenon in television when it was launched in 2006, but the fire dwindled when some creative mistakes were committed while stretching out the storyline.
"Heroes Reborn" will have a two-hour premiere on NBC on Sept. 24 at 8 p.m.
