There goes my hero

NBC revives hit sci-fi series after

By Rory MacDonaldGauthier TV Media

What makes a hero? Adoring fans? Billions of dollars to spend on nifty gadgets and weapons? A cape? According to NBC, none of the above. It’s been five years since “Heroes” wrapped up its fourth season, but due to an overwhelming amount of support from fans and actors alike, the capeless crusaders will make their return in the form of a 13-part miniseries, aptly titled “Heroes Reborn.” The series premiere airs Thursday, Sept. 24, on NBC.

A lot can change in five years. Reboots aside, it’s rare to see a television show attempt to pick up where it last left off a few years down the road, let alone five. Five seems to be the magic number, which is something “Heroes” and “Heroes Reborn” creator Tim Kring recently explained to the Television Critics Association.

“I would actually say that it is season 10,” he said during an NBC party for the TCA. “I know that sounds a little provocative, but the point is, one of the things that we talked about at the very beginning in the writers room was how we wanted every single bit of the mythology to feel as though there was a continuum from the show, and the show picks up five years later. So, ergo, it would be five seasons later and this would be season 10. That was the thinking.”

“Heroes” originally ran for four seasons on NBC from 2006 to 2010 and gained a loyal following, but new fans to the series need not worry. The reboot serves as an ode to the loyal viewer but also as an open-arm gesture to new fans.

“The idea is that for the loyal viewer of the original series, we want to honor them, and they are rewarded for having been loyal fans of the show by seeing all kinds of things inside the show that other people may not see,” Kring said. “There are a ton of Easter eggs, but it was really important to me and to the network — it was never an argument — we need to be able to say if you weren’t a viewer of the show originally, you needed to have an on-ramp.”

To the disappointment of many,

years with ‘Heroes Reborn’

The man with the horn-rimmed glasses, Noah Bennett (Jack Coleman, “The Office”), will be back in the saddle, however things have drastically changed since we last saw him. When the series kicks off, fans will see Noah attempt to live a quiet, suburban life after losing his adopted daughter, Claire, during a terrorist attack that wiped out all known people with abilities just one year earlier. Significant as it is, the show’s producers and crew have been tight-lipped about the attack thus far but do have plans to explain the latest puzzle.

“There was an event that happened, which is a mystery,” said Kring. “It’s a big mystery because we all know that Claire shouldn’t die. Don’t know how, don’t know why? We uncover a lot of that.”

One new addition to “Heroes Reborn” is a man who is no stranger to the “Heroes” universe, though he never appeared in the show. Zachary Levi, the star of the NBC actioncomedy series “Chuck,” enters “Reborn” as Luke, a man whose sole purpose is to avenge the death of his daughter by any means necessary. After years of “Chuck” airing on the same nights as “Heroes,” Levi is seeing his prayers answered.

“We were on Monday nights together,” Levi explained to “Entertainment Weekly.” “We had a lot of press tie-in things and I met all the cast [of ‘Heroes’] and became friends with them. I was always looking from the outside in going: ‘Man, wouldn’t that be so cool to be on that show.’ ... So when somebody sent me an article saying they’re going to do a ‘Heroes Reborn’ miniseries, I was like: ‘Sign me up!’”

Levi also said that his goal was to get away from the “Chuck” archetype, considering the first thing that typically comes to mind for most people is: “Oh, Chuck! That goofy, geeky techie-turned-top-secret super spy!”

“For me, my one big mandate was I wanted to play something that wasn’t Chuck. I wanted to get away from that kind of archetype and do something that was darker and grittier and heavier — and that’s exactly what [Kring and I] found. It also still has a really unique dynamic kind of arc to the character and the journey that he’s on.”

Catch the series premiere of “Heroes Reborn” when it airs Thursday, Sept. 24, on NBC.

ACROSS

1 Shoe company

5 Light fog

9 Inquire

12 Languages-related suffix

13 “__ __, Brute?”

- Line from Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar

14 Adornment in the Aloha State

15 NEW! Fall 2015: Syfy docu- series about tech start-ups trying to turn their ideas into Silicon Valley realities, “__ Dollar Club”

17 Address book no.

18 NEW! Fall 2015: 13-episode event series on NBC that’s a revival of its sci-fi drama that ended in 2010: 2 wds.

20 Suffix with ‘Duct’

21 “Tasty!”

22 NEW! Fall 2015: __ Lee Ortiz (Actress who plays a detective on FOX’s medical procedural drama “Rosewood”)

25 NEW! Fall 2015: Miss __ (Character on ABC’s documentary style show “The Muppets.”)

29 Promos

30 U2 song

31 Roamer

34 No longer together

36 Soldiers, e.g.

38 Alphabetic trio

39 NEW! Fall 2015: Comedy/horror on FOX starring Jamie Lee Curtis: 2 wds.

45 Alkali

46 Bottom line, as per business: 2 wds.

48 Lummox

49 Yea opposers

50 Paradise

51 “Falling Skies” channel

52 Gaelic

53 Stitches

DOWN

1 Cold War org.

2 “In the Valley of __” (2007)

3 Snooze

4 Add ingredients to the sauce or soup: 2 wds.

5 Type of disturbance

6 “How sweet __ __!” - Jackie Gleason

7 Writer’s creation

8 Car repair shop service

9 Certain singing voice 10 Visionary 11 Pottery oven

16 Ms. Falana

19 Dieter’s stat.

22 “The Brady Bunch” character