[michaelwoodcock]

Rumours abound that Kensei, played by Anders, is also Kane, the big bad for volume two. Codenamed Ageless, he is over one thousand years old, and is a bit of a womaniser, but with a lust for power far greater than Sylar's. Along with his reported immortality, Kane also has the ability to command and control hordes of insects (tie in to the finale of volume one?)

It's unknown if he is also Molly's "worse than the boogeyman".

[retired_julieut99]

Sark ! :cool:

[michaelwoodcock]

Kring and co are going on tour :cool:

They held a press conference to announce a world tour to celebrate the show's success.

Tim Kring: Hello everyone, I'm Tim Kring. I'm the creator and executive producer of "Heroes." We're here with the cast of the first season that we're here to talk about. I wanted to give a sort of overview about what we're doing here today. About six months ago, a few of the cast members and I, along with Dennis Hammer and Jeph Loeb, who are two of the producing partners on the show, were invited to the NATPE (National Association of Television Program Executives) Convention in Las Vegas. There, we met with literally dozens and dozens of buyers from territories all over the world, foreign buyers. To be really honest, we didn't really know what we were supposed to be doing there and we didn't really have an agenda. We were just kind of happy to be asked to do something. We don't leave the building here much. But, the second that we got there, it became really clear that the fact that we just showed up was a big deal to these people. They were really excited about the show. You have to understand, this was before the award season had started and so we really hadn't gotten out much. This kind of reaction was really new and very surreal to us. It was also the first time that it started to sink in that the message of the show was going to have a unique connection to people all over the world. Everyone of these buyers asked us the same question. They all wanted to know when we could come and visit them. So we smiled and tap danced and made small talk and shook hands a lot, but we didn't quite know what to tell them. But, all the while, this small spark started to form in our minds and on the plane ride home, Dennis Hammer and I hatched this crazy idea of doing a "Heroes" world tour. I assumed that we would be laughed out of the building when we approached NBC with this somewhat audacious idea. But, Dennis Hammer felt otherwise and pushed on. Boy was he right and I was certainly wrong because NBC embraced it immediately. Now, after several months of planning and tireless efforts from dozens and dozens of people at NBC and Universal Media Centers at GE, navigating their way through complicated logistics involving six different countries as many languages and multiply times zones, it gives us great pleasure to announce this crazy idea of ours that has now become a reality. The central message of "Heroes" from the very beginning has been one of hope. The idea that people from all around the world could come together to do great things and in the process, make the world smaller and more interconnected. This tour is the embodiment of those ideas. The timing really couldn't have been better. The show has been licensed now in nearly 150 territories around the world. Wherever it's launched, it's met with tremendous success, typically premiering with record breaking ratings. Clearly "Heroes" has struck a cord with people around the world and the launch continues with many countries rolling out the show in the next couple of months. So we are thrilled and eager to visit these fans and to celebrate the show's success as well as to spread the word of the release of the DVD and the HD DVD. The release of the first season, the box set. And that's why we were proud to announce our continued partnership with Nissan. This began with the series premiere last fall when they were our sole sponsor for the opening episode. Now, Nissan continues this relationship with us, co-sponsoring the world tour with NBC and utilizing "Heroes" as a central hub of a multi prong marketing campaign starting with the premiere of the second season at the end of September. The "Heroes" DVD and HD DVD will hit the stores on August 28th for the launch of the first season box set. That same week, cast members from the show will embark on the "Heroes" world tour. With personal appearances in at least seven cities in seven different countries. That's so far. We're still thinking about talking about destinations to come when we can work out the logistics. The cities that I can tell you right now are Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Munich, Paris, London and New York City. Along the way, NBC.com, the online destination for the fans who want to follow our adventures and our travels, the "Heroes" world tour website on NBC.com will include photos and video from each of the international locations as well as blogs and personal photos from the actors in each city. It is also worth telling you right here that here at "Heroes" we try to be as environmentally conscious as possible so the plans are now underway to make the tour as green as possible as well. As you can see, we are excited about this.

Q: Have you thought about shooting an episode in any of the cities you'll be visiting?
Kring: We have discussed that, but in reality, we wanted to just focus on the release of the show and the first season and the role out of these various territories.

Q: There are cast members here that may not be in the second season so will they still be involved in the world tour?
Kring: Yes, it's about the first season. The world tour is representing the first season of the show both with the DVD and the release in the foreign markets.

Q: What exactly will you be doing on the world your?
Kring: The itineraries are sort of being formed right now, but it's a lot of press and press events, meeting with the various channels that are showing the show and press in these countries and various fan events as well.

Q: For the actors, is there somewhere specifically you want to go?
Hayden Panettiere: Well I think we all know who wants to go to Tokyo.
Milo Ventimiglia: I've kind of made it known that I speak Australian, but we're not going there.
Panettiere: I'm happy to be a part of it and I'll go wherever they send me. Wherever the wind takes me.

Q: So everybody isn't going everywhere?
Kring: Yes, we're going to be dividing the cast and the tour will last one week. In order to go to these various countries, we're going to divide sort of strategically and spread out so as a result, it's a fairly whirlwind tour. If it's Tuesday, it must be Belgium type of thing.

Q: How is season two coming along so far? Is it evolving as you expected?
Kring: Well it always evolves. That's just the nature of this kind of story telling. We're well into the middle of the season now.

Q: Has anyone done anything like this before?
Greg Grunberg: The Brady Bunch went to the Grand Canyon. So this is pretty cool for us. Some of us traveled actually this summer. I took my wife to Paris and it hasn't premiered on TV in Paris yet, but people were stopping me left and right, literally all over the place because they're watching it on the Internet. That's how they're excited they are. So when we go, I think it's going to be like Comic-Con I think all over the world. At Comic-Con we got this tremendous reaction so it's going to be really exciting I think.

Q: Speaking of Comic-Con, can you tell us what you have planned?
Kring: Comic-Con for us has got a very soft spot in our hearts because last year we premiered there. We launched our sort of press of the show. We went there with basically very little to show. We had a pilot and some high hopes. They embraced us and took to the Internet and really helped launch the show so this year we're going back with kind of a big thank you. We're going to try to bring everybody involved with the show, the entire cast and all of us writers and producers. We're going to be doing a much bigger venue and a bigger room with some behind the scenes and some clips and some announcements that we're saving just for them.

Q: Have you started shooting season two?
Kring: Yeah, we started production two days ago.

Q: Will there be any footage at Comic-Con like a little thank you for being so supportive?
Kring: We'll see what we can put together between now and then. It could still be wet by then.
Panettiere: There's also a Comic-Con in London and I think some of us will be there for that as well.
Grunberg: Also at Comic-Con you showed the 73 minute version of the pilot that's a huge plus on the DVD.
Kring: Comic-Con was the only place that the uncut version of the pilot was aired. But, now with the release of the DVD and the HD DVD, fans will get to see it.

Q: How are you going to make this tour green?
Kring: You know we are talking about that. Obviously the idea is to counterbalance the carbon footprint of various activities we can do here as well.

Q: Have you thought of what that is yet?
Kring: I'm kind of not the one to talk about it. I don't have all of the details, but this is what I'm aware of so far.

Q: Can you talk a little about "Heroes: Origins," the series you're working on to sort of fill the gap with the regular series? Have you started scripting it yet?
Kring: No, not yet. We are now in the process of talking about who is going to be writing and directing them.

Q: Would it be fair to describe the show as an anthology series?
Kring: Yes. Right now that's the idea. It will not be a continuing cast or storyline.

Q: Do you see a lot of the current cast members being in it?
Kring: Right now, no. This cast has 24 episodes which is a giant mountain of work to do already. The idea is that these are the stories of other people. The show has deposited this idea that this is happening all over the world and so this is an opportunity for us to tell some stories about some of these other people out there.

Q: Do you think all six episodes will run in one six week block between a break in the regular series?
Kring: Right now that's the idea, yes.

Q: Can you tell us about any of the new characters we might meet?
Kring: I don't know if that's something I'm supposed to be talking about or not. There are a couple of new characters that will fold in and a couple of them have already been announced in the press.

Q: You have a blond hair, blue eyed guy (David Anders) playing a Samurai war lord. Can you address that?
Kring: Like with everything on "Heroes," nothing is quite what it seems to be. That becomes a huge part of the story.

Q: Can you talk about how long Hiro will remain in the past?
Kring: For a hand full of episodes. That's it.

Q: What's it like to be back to work?
Panettiere: Amazing. I can now work more than 10 ½ hours.
Jack Coleman: It's not that great for the rest of us.
Panettiere: No one gets off the hook this season.
Kring: We've had two days of production and it was the storyline that focused on Hayden's character.
Grunberg: I actually go back to work today so if this is any indication of what this year is going to be like, it's pretty cool.

Q: This question is for Jack Coleman. Are your scripts now saying Noah or is it still HRG?
Coleman: Am I allowed to answer that? My name is Jack Coleman and apparently this question is for Jack Coleman. The scripts still say HRG which I'm perfectly happy with because I've grown quite fond of the acronym.

Q: Are Adrian and Milo coming back?
Adrian Pasdar: I'm Adrian Pasdar and I play Nathan Petrelli. I played Nathan Petrelli. No, I think Tim said so clearly before that on this show, anything can happen. I'm very happy to be up here today, but we're just going to have to wait and see.

Q: Theoretically, if the Petrelli brothers were to return this season, would they look like this as opposed to Milo having bangs and Adrian being clean shaven?
Pasdar: I shaved this morning. Nobody tells me anything.

Q: How surprised were you by the way the season finale ended?
Pasdar: How do you mean surprised?

Q: There was some idea that there would be a detonation, but I don't think people thought it would end with the Petrelli brothers flying away and then that's when the explosion happens. And then Hiro was running from feudal Japanese warriors.
Grunberg: That was the first three minutes of season two. And I took four to the chest. Thanks for remembering. Hello! I start shooting today, but I could be laying in a hospital bed or a coffin. Who knows?

Q: What other kinds of extras will be on the DVD?
Kring: There's a whole bunch of extras obviously designed for this thing. One of the things that we're really excited about though is the HD DVD which allows viewers to connect to the Internet through their DVD player. We also ran commentaries all year long on all of these episodes. We have oodles of behind the scenes stuff. Does anybody else know?
Grunberg: Deleted scenes.
Kring: Oh yeah, that's right. There's like 50 deleted scenes.

Q: Does every episode give commentary?
Kring: I think the commentary actually starts at about nine episodes.

Q: You say the connection to the fans is the reason for this tour, so for the actors can you say what people tell you they are connecting to?
Pasdar: I just got back from Monte Carlo. Masi Oka and I were there last week and the fans were universal in their appreciation I think for the sense that's what the show is about. It's about hope and about love. That communicates across any linguistic boundaries. The show is downloaded illegally everywhere. Every journalist that I ran into had seen the show. It was bizarre. They had all seen it illegally. So I think the themes that Tim had brought up earlier were the ones that ran universally through every journalist's head.
Masi Oka: Yeah.
Pasdar: Whenever I'm right, that's what Masi says.
Zachary Quinto: In April, we went to Paris. There was a festival there called the Jules Verne Festival. They honored the show with an Adventure Spirit Award and we showed up. It was the same thing. The show hadn't aired in Paris and when we showed up to the event where the festival was honoring the show, there were 3,000 people lined up outside waiting to get in. I don't know if we even need to talk about with our fans what the themes are because they automatically just connect and sort of respond to it in an overwhelmingly positive way.
Kring: Let me just clarify one thing by "Origins." The idea of when we're going to air. As of now, the idea with "Origins" is that "Heroes" will run as continuously as much as we can throughout the season. Obviously there are a couple of tiny breaks along the way. When "Heroes" ends in April, "Origins" would begin.

Q: So you're going to do the season finale and then do Origins?
Kring: Yes.

Q: It won't be in sweeps?
Kring: It will not be in sweeps, no.

[michaelwoodcock]

Even more about the Heroes World Tour, with alot of snippets about Generations and further volumes.

Wednesday morning, Tim Kring and the cast of his hit NBC show "Heroes" met with members of the press in Stage 7 of the Sunset Gower studio in Hollywood, CA, to announce the "Heroes" World Tour. Besides Kring, actors Santiago Cabrera, Jack Coleman, Greg Grunbreg, Ali Larter, Masi Oka, Hayden Panettiere, Adrian Pasdar, Zachary Quinto, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Leonard Roberts, Milo Ventimiglia and Noah Gray-Cabey were in attendance. And CBR News was on the scene.

It was after repeated requests for the cast and crew of "Heroes" to make appearances abroad that Kring and fellow Executive Producer Dennis Hammer first conceived of the World Tour. "I assumed that we would be laughed out of the building when we approached NBC with this somewhat audacious idea," Kring said. "But Dennis Hammer felt otherwise, and we pushed on, and boy, was he right, because NBC embraced it immediately. And now after several months of planning, tireless efforts from dozens and dozens of people at NBC, Universal Media Studios at GE, navigating through complicated logistics involving six different countries, as many languages and multiple time zones, it gives us great pleasure to announce that this crazy idea of ours has now become a reality.

"The central message of 'Heroes' from the very beginning has been one of hope," Kring continued. "The idea that people from all around the world could come together to do great things, and in the process make the world smaller and more interconnected. This tour is the embodiment of those ideals.” The tour will celebrate the show's success all around the world, and spread the word about the release of "Heroes" Season 1 on DVD and HD DVD. Kring also announced the show's continued relationship with Nissan, who have gone from being the show's sole sponsor when the "Heroes" pilot aired to launching a multi-pronged marketing campaign starting with the second season opener. The tour so far includes Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Munich, Paris, London and New York City, with more stops in the works. "Along the way, NBC.com will be the online destination for fans who want to follow our adventures and our travels. The "Heroes" World Tour website on NBC.com will include photos and video from each of the international locations, as well as blogs and personal photos from the actors in each city.” Kring also assured journalists that the show was committed to making the tour as environmentally friendly as possible. Kring then opened up the floor for questions from the press.

Kring took a moment to address the Tour's itinerary, which is still in the works. "It's a lot of press and press events and meeting with the various channels that are showing the show, and various fan events as well," Kring said. "We're going to be dividing up the cast. The tour will last one week, and in order to go to these various countries, we're going to divide it up strategically."

When asked if any show had done a similar World Tour before, Grunberg quipped, "The Brady Bunch went to the Grand Canyon.” Kring went on to say that he and his wife had experienced in Paris this past summer what many of his fellow cast members had experienced in locales around the globe: such is the enthusiasm for "Heroes" that press and fans alike have already illegally downloaded the entire first season before the show has officially aired in their countries. "So when we go, it's going to kind of be like Comic-Con, I would think, all over the world."

Speaking of Comic-Con International in San Diego, Kring then spoke to the show's plans for this year's convention which is just over a month away. "Comic-Con for us has got a very soft spot in our heart, because last year we launched our press of the show at Comic-Con," Kring said. "We went there with basically very little to show, we had a pilot and some high hopes. But they embraced us and took to the Internet and really helped launch the show. So this year we're going back with kind of a big thank you, we're trying to bring everybody involved with the show, the entire cast, and all of us, writers and producers. Much bigger venue, bigger room, with some behind the scenes and some clips and some announcements that we're saving just for them.

"Comic-Con was the only place that the original uncut version of the pilot was aired, and so now with the release of the DVD and the HD DVD fans will get to see it," Kring said. Other special features for the Season 1 box set include behind-the-scenes featurettes, 50 deleted, scenes and commentaries on most of the episodes.

Kring took a minute to talk about "Heroes: Origins," the six-episode spin-off series slated to air at the end of April after the second season wraps up. "The idea is that these are the stories of other people," Kring said. "The show has posited this idea that this is happening all around the world, so this is an opportunity for us to tell some stories about some of these other people out there.” Kring's assertion that the regular cast will not be appearing in "Origins" left Grunberg visibly dejected.

"Origins" is being developed as an anthology series, without a continuing cast or storyline, and Kring hopes that will attract a different pool of talent. "That's one of the interesting things about the idea of it being an anthology where people don't have to commit to an entire series, and some of the hopes of that is to entice certain actors, certain writers, certain directors that may not normally be attracted to the work-load of the series," Kring said.

Early reports indicated that fans would be given the opportunity to vote which of "Origin's" new characters would be written into "Heroes" proper, but Kring said that might become logistically impossible. "Internally, you may not be able to make a deal with somebody, or they may not be available, or they may be terrible to work with and we don't wanna work with them," Kring explained. "There's a million reasons why you don't want somebody imposing that on you.” But Kring did not discount the possibility that fan input might welcomed for one or two stand-alone episodes.

Kring told reporters "Heroes" Season 2 had started production two days earlier, and that they have already broken stories for the first half of the new season. When asked if she was happy to be back to work of "Heroes," Panettiere responded with a resounding yes. "I can now work more than 10 and a half hours," she beamed.

"Which is not that great for the rest of us," Coleman joked.

Coleman, for his part, informed reporters that even though his character's first name was finally revealed to be Noah in the Season 1 finale, the Season 2 scripts still refer to his character as HRG, as he was originally introduced in the "Heroes" pilot. Fans know HRG is an acronym for Coleman's characteristic horn-rimmed glasses, but suggested a new interpretation: "He's really great."

And fans of comic artist Tim Sale will be happy to learn that his distinctive art style will return for Season 2. "Tim is going to still stay involved and the idea of the paintings is going to have a clever re-entry into the show," Kring said.

Kring said definitely that as of the Season 1 finale, the multiple personalities of Ali Larter's character had intergrated. "It leaves us with a new beginning for that character, and her powers will be redefined," he said.

Kring boiled the "Heroes" writing process down to this: "It's ten writers in a room for ten thousand hours talking to each other, that's basically what it comes down to.” Kring further told reporters that the changes to the writing staff for "Heroes" Season 2 was relatively minimal. "We lost Bryan Fuller to his own pilot," Kring said. "We brought in a writing team, the Blake Sisters, and J.J. Philbin has joined us as well. We filled out a little bit."

Kring was tight-lipped about which of the show's cast survived the events of the first season finale, and assured reporters that the fact that the entire cast of Season 1 would be part of the World Tour did not guarantee their characters would return for the show's second volume. Pasdar introduced himself to the crowd and looked for affirmation from Kring as to whether or not he should say he plays Nathan Petrelli in the present or past tense. "I'm very happy to be up here today, but we'll just see," Pasdar said.

"I took four to the chest, thanks for remembering," Grunberg chided the press. But the actor did let it slip that he had already begun filming for Season 2, so fans of Matt Parkman can expect to see the character return.

But on character Kring always intended to kill off was Season 1's arch villain, Mr. Linderman. "I looked at Linderman as almost like a Bond villain," Kring said. "The Bond movies always have somebody new and interesting. So Liderman was our Dr. No."

As the Q&A came to a close, Kring wheeled out a massive Globe-shaped cake, with markers for each of the cities the "Heroes" World Tour is going to hit and proceeded to cut it with Takezo Kensei's ubiquitous sword. And after the cake-cutting, Kring stuck around long enough to answer a few more questions from the press.

While "Heroes" Season 2 will introduce new characters, the fact that fans will already be familiar with the show's core cast lessened the need for every character to be in every episode. "So we're able to sort of pull back and let certain characters come to the surface for an episode," Kring said. This gives the creators more freedom to do episodes like last season's "Company Man," which focused heavily on HRG. "That's something we really learned last year, you had to earn enough interest in those characters to be able to focus on them."

When asked about the mixed fan reaction to the Season 1 finale, Kring said, "One of the problems of a big serialized show, by the time you get 23 episodes in, you're dragging a tremendous amount of story behind you, and when people wait that long for answers, it gets very hard to satisfy people."

The entirety of Season 1 comprised the first volume of "Heroes," entitled "Genesis.” But to combat that intense build-up of expectation, and to make the show more accessible to new viewers, Kring has decided to break the second season's 24-episode run into three self-contained volumes. "Volume 2 is entitled 'Generation,'" Kring said. "We're looking at volume 2 to end at the middle of the season, which allows us to wrap up certain stories, which allows us to have new stories begin, so you don't get a sense that if you jump on the train, you're aggressively being pushed off the train because you don't know what's going on."

Kring said there would not be much first-season recap in the early episodes of Season 2 because the recap is built into the story, as the second season premier picks up four months after the end of the first season. "There's tremendous mystery in what happened in those four months, and that's why you're watching these first few episodes is because they're revealing what actually happened.” The only storyline that picks up exactly where Season 1 left off is that of Hiro, who Kring says is currently slated to spend the first several episodes in feudal Japan.

"Heroes" Volume 2, which begins with the second season premier, is entitled "Generations.” "Last year we set up the sense that there was this other generation represented by Linderman, and the Petrellis' mom, and George Takei, and the Richard Roundtree character, all these characters set up an idea that there was another generation that had secrets of their own, and this season, one of those themes that we're going to talk about is the sins of the parents being visited upon the children," Kring said. "That's one of the themes, this idea of how generationally we are left with problems that we have to fix."

Kring said the beginning of Season 2 returns the series to one of its early touchstones: what it's like for people with extraordinary powers to lead ordinary lives. "As opposed to the first season where it got so cranked up with the plot that that idea sort of fell by the wayside."

And much like the beginning of Season 1, Season 2 finds the cast split up again. "That's always been the fun I felt of the show and some of the secret of the show is the guessing and predicting and discussion about how these disparate characters are going to find their way back into each other's lives," Kring said. "I think that's a big chunk of what the show's success is."

As far as Emmy buzz goes, Kring said he certainly harbors hopes for "Heroes" to be recognized. "Clearly this kind of show is a difficult show for Emmy voters to wrap their brain around," Kring said. "It has some sci-fi elements, traditionally not the most praised by the Emmy voters, but clearly, when you set out to do something bold and from your heart, you hope that people appreciate it."

[retired_2symonds]

Yas, I might try and go to one of the London events, whatever it is. Should I dress up as Batman or something?

[retired_rockstar]

SARK \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/

[michaelwoodcock]

High school politics /o\

Really has been done to absolute death in the American media outlets over the last ten years or so, very disappointed to see it rear it's head here. Yeah, we get it. Jocks rule the roost, but geeks and freaks have the real power. Staple of comic book industry these days however, bit like the caricature villains of the "golden era".

[michaelwoodcock]

Betty clearly Candice btw. A nice thought for everyone drooling over her earlier in the series

[michaelwoodcock]

Along with all the new cast members being announced most folks have missed that James Kyson Lee, better known to us all as Ando, has had his status on the show bumped from reoccurring role to cast regular. Good to see he's been signed.

Best case scenario? 63 days untill Volume two restarts. Next comic out tomorrow though.

[retired_rachelst]

Is it really just two months until season two? If so that's brilliant.

Agree with you though that the whole Betty/Candice story just made me cringe. No more of that, thank you.

There's a new reality show starting soon here btw. Something like "Who wants to be a superhero?" Sounds a bit lame.