SPOILER ALERT: This article reveals major plotlines for season 2 of Heroes
It's also more smartly scheduled. Hoping to avoid duplicating last spring's ratings slippage, NBC will air season 2's volumes in repeat-free blocks. (When Heroes wraps in late April, it will give way to an anthology series called Heroes: Origins, which will feature celebrity storytellers like Kevin Smith and introduce brand-new characters that could either graduate to the main show or be spun off into their own ongoing series.) ''There's no question Heroes is the big daddy on the NBC block,'' says NBC Entertainment co-chairman Ben Silverman, who's leveraging Heroes' Monday muscle to launch a full night of sci-fi-themed programs that also includes newcomers Chuck and Journeyman. Silverman says the only challenge Heroes faces to maintaining and maybe even growing its audience is ''making sure we showcase everyone's favorite characters.'' (Think: the second season of Lost or Desperate Housewives, where old faves were back-burnered in order to focus on new faces.)
Nevertheless, Heroes will open its season with an infusion of new blood. Also on the menu — at least one shocking death, and the promise of hotties swapping super-spit. Season 2 starts four months later, after the big New York City battle royal, and finds the characters scattered across the globe. Not every cliff-hanger will be resolved immediately or explicitly — episode 8, entitled ''Four Months Ago...'' will fill in all the blanks — but it is revealed that yes, Peter, Nathan, and Sylar all survived the Kirby Plaza donnybrook, albeit some in better shape than others. ''It's a smash cut open. Boom! You're in the middle of everyone's story,'' says Quinto, who will leave the series around episode 16 so he can play Spock in J.J. Abrams' big-screen Star Trek reboot. ''My ideal would be to come back when I'm done. Hopefully, there'll still be room for me.'' That's a no-brainer: Kring is already plotting Sylar's dramatic late-season return.
Something else you can bank on: Volume 2 will be driven by a murder mystery, with the first victim slain in the premiere. The saga — entitled ''Generations'' — will also focus on the earlier era of Heroes, a shady bunch whose members include Nathan and Peter's Lady Macbethish mom (Cristine Rose) and Hiro's billionaire pop (George Takei). The new season will spill their secrets and maybe their blood — all are being hunted by a mysterious enemy. ''There are some juicy scenes that leave teeth marks on the scenery,'' says a spoiler-skittish Takei. Ditto Rose, who was so nervous, she limited her comments to a carefully sculpted statement. (An excerpt: ''Something happens that plunges Angela, the control freak, into fear and panic....'') ''They really keep us in the dark,'' says Rose. ''You probably know more than I do.''
Well...yeah, we do. We know that Hiro — whose giant leap backward will inadvertently alter history — will spend about eight episodes repairing the damage (and seeing some samurai action himself). We know that Peter's got amnesia, Nathan's now a drunk, and newly integrated Niki/Jessica will become intimately acquainted with the virus that's afflicting those with awesome abilities — a major plot point of season 2 . We know that the unspoken fan question ''What's Heroes going to do when they run out of cool powers?'' will be addressed on the show itself. ''The question presumes that there can't be a duplication of powers,'' teases Kring. ''But what if there was a finite pool of adaptations? What if there are other people in other parts of the world breaking out with similar abilities?'' And we know that the fearsome phantom that haunts the mind of Molly, the Human Hero Tracker (Adair Tishler), will be ID'd in episode 5. Tishler's theory? ''He's the bogeyman, like Sylar's boss,'' says the actress, adding that her orphaned character is living with Suresh, the No Powers Super Scientist (Sendhil Ramamurthy), and Matt, the Mind Reader. ''It's no mystery — I survived the finale,'' says Grunberg. ''I get into the action in a much bigger way this season.''
NEXT PAGE: ''I really felt romance was a missing element last season. These characters are young, single, and available — might as well hook them up.''
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