Heroes returns tonight, people. And after a second season that left many fans underwhelmed, it is worth noting that this evening's premiere is pretty good. For those who jumped off the Heroes train at some point last season, there will be an hour clip/recap show to catch you up before the two-hour opener, which you'll hopefully enjoy.

And to celebrate Heroes' resurrection, NBC hosted a season premiere party for the cast and some lucky fans, who sat in the bleachers to see all the red carpet action happen. I sent my girl, Marisa Roffman, to stalk the stars. Read on to hear about her interaction with actors Jack Coleman, Zachary Quinto, Brea Grant and Jimmy Jean-Louis...


HRG, Who Are You?: We see very little of Noah Bennet (aka HRG), who seems to still be imprisoned as we last saw him, in the first hour of tonight's premiere -- his scene is less than thirty seconds long and involves no talking -- but Jack Coleman promises he’ll be a lot more involved in the second hour of the show. After jokingly reenacting his first hour scene, Jack spilled that several characters -- including HRG -- will quickly come to the conclusion that another hero is being kept against his or her will at the same location he's at: “But how you see it work itself out is very cool and very Heroes,” Jack said. “Unexpected and cool beyond what your average TV show will do.”

Once HRG is released from captivity, don’t expect him to be solely on the side of “good.” “If you think about the episode last season where I shot my mentor in the head,” Jack said, “That was cold-blooded. You will very quickly see HRG’s cold-blooded side. They sort of keep him on a moral pendulum. If he gets too good, they bring him back. If he gets too bad, they bring him back. But I do some very, very questionable things this year.”

And some of that shadiness may jeopardize how his beloved daughter, Claire, feels about him. “I can tell you somewhere around episode five [things change],” Jack sighed. “HRG and Claire -- he’s done everything he can to protect her and keep her out of his world. But those worlds collide in a big way in episode five. And it generally changes the nature and the trajectory of their relationship. She turns up at a very unexpected place in the middle of a mission and sees what it is I do and how I do it. And she’s never quite the same.” Oh boy.

Sylar, Sex Symbol: Fans certainly love the bad boys. In addition to signs saying “Sylar is Sexy," the yells for Zachary Quinto might have been the loudest of the night. And the ladies will definitely get their Sylar fix in the season premiere -- though they might not like whose head he cuts open. Zachary laughed about that, “I hit the ground running this year and I don’t slow down for a while. It’s going to be a pretty exciting season for my character.”

And what about the episode showing a future with Sylar as a daddy? “That’s one thing our show does so well,” Zachary said. “We explore different time lines and different story lines that happen as a result of things that you may not see on the show. There’s an episode where we flash into an alternate future where Sylar’s gone in a different direction, settled down a little bit, and focused his energy on a nurturing quality. The mother is maybe somebody you've met already, maybe someone you’ll meet this year, maybe someone you’ll never know. I know, but you’ll have to wait and see."   

Is there any risk that Sylar might turn good permanently? Zach says no. “I keep getting asked questions about my character going soft, but I certainly don’t think that’s possible for too long. We might explore shades of it, but I think evil or darkness will get the best of him. I think Sylar is a well-explored character as far as the writers are concerned. He’s constantly put in situations where he’s wrestling with aspects of himself. Whether or not he is killing someone or getting rid of someone in a less violent way, I think it’s rooted in a deep exploration of his psyche."

New Kid On The Block: Brea Grant joins Heroes this season as Daphne (aka Speedster) and she’s out to give our heroes a run for their money. We’re first introduced to her in the tonight's premiere when she steals a valuable family secret from Hiro. He stops time to try and track her down, which fascinates Daphne when she realizes what he’s doing. “I think it’s the first time she’s ever met someone with powers,” Brea said. “She never met anyone who could stop her, so that’s a big deal for her, and she’s trying to figure out in that moment, how is this guy stopping me? That really interests her.”

Hiro won’t be the only familiar face Daphne interacts with. Brea told me she’d be working with “basically everyone,” though a good portion of her time will be with Masi Oka. Will something possibly romantic bloom between Hiro and Daphne? Brea did hint that there might be some more love stories on the show this season and when questioned if that might involve her, she looked at Masi -- who was getting fans in the crowd to yell out “Yatta!” with him -- and giggled. Hmmm…

So is Daphne, aka Speedster, one of the Villains for this volume or not? According to Brea, “Daphne’s like a lot of us, she’s in the grey. She starts off as a villain, but you get to see her sort of deal with that as time goes on.”

The Haitian's Homecoming: Season three brings the return of the Haitian! Jimmy Jean-Louis, who plays the aforementioned character, was MIA for the last few hours of season two, but according to Jimmy, he'll be in most of this year's episodes. We'll first see him back in Haiti taking care of some family business. However, he won't be alone. "He’ll be joined by some of the heroes,” Jimmy shared. He wouldn’t specify whom, but he did say the characters would be males. Let the guessing begin!

Comments

Woo Hoo!

Thanks for this Korbi! Can't wait...though I have to as I have a previous commitment (curses!) and won't be able to watch the show until tomorrow night!!

Kath | Sep 22, 2008 1:56:16 PM | #

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I am glad to hear the Haitian is back.
Last night's episode was awesome!

Mandy | Sep 23, 2008 10:58:03 AM | #

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