Possibly making one of the biggest television comebacks, Heroes: Reborn, made its Comic-Con debut on Sunday.
Heroes: Reborn premieres this fall, and we’re all curious how NBC is going to handle the return of one of its most successful shows. If the panel is anything to go by, then we’re all in for a treat. Check out some of our favorite things from the panel, and then head over to page two for what the cast had to say about it!
Video game and prequel
Before the panel started they announced that Heroes will be getting a video game for mobile tablets, and we also found out there is a prequel coming to the Heroes: Reborn app. The prequel is going to cover what happened between the end of Heroes and the beginning of Heroes: Reborn, answering many questions in that five-year gap.
They played a trailer for the prequel that showed a girl showing her brother her powers, who approves and called her an “evo.” That’s their name now, so be sure to get used to that term!
The prequel is called Heroes: Reborn, Dark Matters and will follow the girl as she explores her powers. It will explore what happens as the “evolved humans” become hunted and will be a great supplementary story for those interested in getting more from the universe.
‘This is Heroes on steroids’
When asked what’s different about the show, creator Tim Kring said, “The show, first and foremost, is about characters and it’s not about the super powers but the characters and dealing with their abilities. That being said, there are things that got a lot easier to do — special effects are being done on set with a laptop, cameras are lighter. Last time we only filmed in Los Angeles this time we shot in Iceland, Canada, LA, Tokyo, Paris.”
The show will pick up 5 years after they left off, when they ended with Claire Bennett exposing the powers to the public. Her announcement changed the world, so we’ll get to see the aftermath of that twist.
Completely different direction
The direction of the show has changed dramatically. In the first few seasons it was a privilege to discover powers, but this time if a character wakes up with powers it’s a bad thing. Now they’re going to be hunted and persecuted.
Based on everything we saw at Comic-Con, it looks like Heroes: Reborn is going to be way darker than the original. With that said, showrunners promised the season is going to stay true to the canon of the show.
On page 2: Masi Oka talks about his role, and the new cast members reveal more about their mysterious characters.
Hiro’s brief return
After the panel we sat down with the cast of Heroes: Reborn to ask them about what we can expect this fall. The most interesting thing we learned is that Masi Oka is actually only in the show for a handful of episodes, and he’s already shot all of his scenes.
Heroes: Reborn is on a filming schedule of two at a time (excluding the premiere), so they’ve shot episodes 1-6 and are currently working on episodes 7 and 8. With that information in mind, we’re wondering what the show is going to do for the five remaining episodes without Hiro.
Throughout our conversations with the cast, several of them stated how epic and great Hiro’s story is, so when we sat down with Masi Oka we asked how it felt to be a part of such a big, great story compared to his role in the show previously.
He seemed surprised by the question. “I’m not a series regular on Heroes: Reborn, I’m only doing three episodes,” he said. “I’m contractually obligated to a different show, and thanks to the generosity of CBS and NBC things worked out. I’m only on three episodes and I’ve already shot them.”
“Hiro is integral to the story and what happens, but at the same time I think he had his big arc and his journey in the original series. The story moved so fast I feel like I went through four lifetimes of Hiro. I think this time around it’s about him passing the torch to the new generation.”
New cast, new characters
We spoke to some of the new cast members about what we can expect from their new characters. Orphan Black‘s Dylan Bruce said that his character is so secretive that we can’t even know his name yet, but that he’s a survivalist and he doesn’t do the most moral things.
Once Upon a Time fans are going to be happy to see Robbie Kay join the cast. His character, of course, is the complete opposite of Peter Pan. Instead of being a British villain he has now become an American hero for Heroes: Reborn, as revealed by Kay at the show’s panel in Hall H.
We’re so excited to see how Heroes: Reborn will incorporate the new characters with the old and are also intrigued to see how they will manage to give everyone enough screen time to grow and develop with as many characters as there are.
So far Heroes: Reborn has proven to be look amazing, so we can’t wait to see it premiere this fall!