Heroes: Exclusive News

From aintitcoolnews.com:link to Herc's story
“Heroes” will not air during May sweeps next year. It will conclude its second season in mid-April, series mastermind Tim Kring said at a Thursday-morning press conference in Hollywood.

The six-episode miniseries spinoff “Heroes: Origins” will air over six consecutive weeks in late April and May - after “Heroes” airs its second-season finale, explained Kring.

Kring also confirmed that “Origins” – which will be set in the "Heroes" universe and deal with a new superpowered individual every week - will be an anthology series, a rarity in modern broadcast network television.

Kring said scripting on "Origins" had not yet begun, and that he did not yet know which, if any, of the "Heroes" regulars would appear in the spinoff.

NBC last month ordered 24 second-season episodes of “Heroes.” Kring said the series would not air a new episode every week this season, but its breaks would be far shorter than the big break that split season one down the middle.

“Heroes” started shooting its second season two days ago, but Kring claimed the presence at the press conference of Santiago Cabrera (Isaac Mendez), Leonard Roberts (D.L. Hawkins), Zachary Quinto (Gabriel “Sylar” Grey), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan Petrelli), Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman) and Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli) did not mean any of their characters would necessarily survive into season two.

Grunberg did, however, let slip that he was already back at work on the show.

The Thursday press conference was designed to announce a series of late-summer promotional events being billed as “The Heroes World Tour.”

“The Heroes World Tour,” underwritten by Nissan (which also sponsored NBC’s original airing of the series’ pilot and provided a memorable piece of product placement in season one), will take members of the cast to at least seven cities in seven countries – Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Munich, Paris, London and New York – to promote the release of the series’ first season on DVD and HD-DVD. The week-long tour will kick off Aug. 28, the day the season-one sets hit shelves.

During the conference’s Q&A, Kring said Hiro Nakamura will remain in ancient Japan for “a handful of episodes.”

Not everyone has yet shot scenes for season two, but the actors who play the Petrelli brothers sported at the conference different looks than fans will remember from season one.

Ventimiglia’s hair is now extremely short, shorn of Peter’s trademark bangs, and Pasdar has grown a full beard. Hayden Panettiere, who plays cheerleader Claire Bennet, looks skinnier than she did last season.

Kring said every installment after episode nine on the season-one set will feature an audio commentary.

Not every cast member is expected to travel to every city on the whirlwind tour. Fans will be able to follow the tour’s progress via photos, videos and blogs linked to NBC.com.


From Kristin:
They're baaack!

The Heroes are back on set as of today to start work on the new fall season, and yours truly (along with about 50 other reporters) is on the set for a special announcement.

Stand by.

The entire cast is here. (Woo!) Tim Kring is here. (Double woo!) Kring announces that the Heroes DVD box set will hit stores Aug. 28, and castmembers wil embark on a "Heroes World Tour," with appearances in at least seven cities in seven countries around the world. Fans can follow their worldwide adventures on nbc.com, which will include photos and blogs. Good times.

Says Kring: "The central message of Heroes always has been one of hope—the idea that people from all around the world could come together and do great things. And this project is based on those ideals."

Wait a minute...D.L. (Leonard Roberts) is not here. Ruh-roh.

Now, time for reporter Q's. "We're well into breaking the middle of the season," Kring tells us when asked what's going on in the writers' room. "We started production two days ago on the new season." He also says he might show some of the footage at Comic-Con next month.

Kring says they haven't started scripting Origins (the episodes revolving around new characters), but it is fair to describe it as an anthology series. Right now, he is not expecting any of this cast to take part. "This is our chance to tell stories about other people out there."

And how nutty is this? Kring says that Heroes will run contiguously through April, and then the Origins episodes will air in May.

When asked if anyone has done anything like this tour before, Grunberg says: "Well, The Brady Bunch went to the Grand Canyon." Awesome.

Kring says Hiro will remain in the past for "at least a few episodes." The first episode is very Claire-centric. Grunberg hasn't worked yet, but he will.

Ooh! Money Q. A reporter (who wants each actor to identify him- or herself) asks whether Nathan will survive. Says Adrian: "I'm Adrian Pasdar. I play...um, played?... Nathan Petrelli. On this show, anything can happen. I'm very happy to be up here today, but we'll have to wait and see." Wah wah. No real answer.

The DVD will have 50 deleted scenes, commentary and the unaired 73-minute pilot.

Huge globe cake is rolled out. Looks yummy. As do (you know what's coming next, right?) Adrian (still bearded) and Milo (now with short, clean-cut hair!). And sorry, but you also can't help but notice Ali Larter, who looks as if she's done nothing all summer but exfoliate, hydrate and moisturize while doing Pilates.

Again, all the cast is here (including Santiago!), but Leonard Roberts is nowhere to be found. Poop.

They're cutting the ice cream cake, and...Gotta run and do interviews! Look for them this Monday in a Vine show near you.

From TV Squad:
The tour is focusing on season one, and also the upcoming August 28th release of the DVD box set, which includes 50 deleted scenes, commentaries, and the full 73 minute premiere episode. Cast members jetting around the world will be: Greg Grunberg, Santiago Cabrera (Isaac), Jack Coleman (Horn-Rimmed Glasses/Noah), Noah Gray-Cabey (Micah, what a lucky kid!), Ali Larter (Niki/Jessica), James Kyson Lee (Ando), Masi Oka (Hiro), Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan), and Milo Ventimiglia (Peter). Not all of the cast members will be going to each city, so maybe they're drawing straws to figure it all out. Although I'm sure you can bet on Ando and Hiro being in Tokyo.

After it was said and done, they wheeled out an enormous cake shaped like the globe, with cookies stuck in the seven cities they'll be visiting. Tim Kring chopped it up with Hiro's sword, and secured himself a good photo-op in the process in case he goes for global domination of the non-pastry type.

There were scant few tidbits and hints dropped for season two, which began filming two days ago, but we managed to get a few breadcrumbs from Tim and some of the cast members. If you don't want any spoilers, read no further!

• 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 joked that the entire cast would be standing around, lowering him into the ground. So, it's a pretty safe bet that he'll survive those four bullets to the chest.
• Sylar is back as well, although c'mon ... did you doubt he would be?
• 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
• Tim Kring envisions season two as consisting of three big story arcs.
• Heroes: Origins is an "anthology show," which we knew. But 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. When asked if they'd be in next season, Adrian said "I played ... er ... play Nathan Petrelli." So, hrm ... very clever. Still leaves us wondering.