Heroes Creator Discusses Nathan's Death

As seen in the final ‘Heroes’ episode of 2009, Nathan Petrelli is now – more than ever – truly and sincerely dead. But is that necessarily the last the show’s fans have seen of beloved original cast member Adrian Pasdar?

After all, the NBC series has a habit of finding ways to keep its actors around, death be damned. For example, Pasdar could easily be called upon to shoot a scene that takes place in the past, as Hiro flits around time.

Fancast asked ‘Heroes‘ creator Tim Kring if Pasdar is in fact done with the show, at least for the remainder of Season 4. He told us, “That is correct. And we are shooting the last episode right now, so I can say that with complete clarity.”

Kring has no regrets about dispensing with Nathan in Episode 12. “We started discussing it at the end of last season, when we actually killed the character,” he explains, “so it really just became a matter of how and when.”

The writers initially aimed to keep Pasdar around through all 19 of this season’s episodes, “but sometimes you can’t stretch stories like taffy,” Kring says. “You realize, ‘We’re treading water here, and we need to make a decision.’”

The decision to part ways with Pasdar the actor, however, “was tough,” Kring admits.

“On every show I’ve been on, there are actors that become leaders,” he says, “and Adrian has been a terrific guy and a friend. That made this doubly difficult.”

As Heroes return this January (’Heroes’ will now air Mondays at 9/8c, leading out of ‘Chuck‘), Kring says that Samuel’s seemingly sinister plan will “crank up and build to a crescendo,” while Peter rebounds from Nathan’s final exit by seeking out Claire, who has just joined up with the carnival.

“They are able to sort of bond over the loss of their brother and father,” Kring says. “So you will see those stories start to collide.”

SOURCE

There will be a fifth season of Heroes

This is good news for Heroes fans.

Whole lot of shaking going on at NBC and more specifically Heroes. This past week we saw the killing off of Adrian Pasdar's character, heard the news that Sendhil Ramamurthy has been cast in a new pilot for the network, and the network itself merged with Comcast. Everyone is taking the departure of Ramamurthy and Pasdar as a sign that the show is canceled. ScreenJunkies reached out to an inside source at Heroes who confirmed these rumors as false.

Their source tells us that Ramamurthy got a pilot and asked the writers to write him out. They obliged. Everyone loves Sendhil Ramamurthy and his character, but the truth is he didn't have a lot of screen time this season, and the writers felt they shouldn't stand in the way of the actor's future. Look for Mohinder Suresh to make his exit in an episode airing in late January.

Our source further tells us that given that Heroes (and it's DVD sales) is huge all over the world, it's doubtful it will be canceled anytime soon. From a business standpoint, another season would bring the number of shows up to 100 which would position Heroes as a bona fide asset for future ancillary ventures. In fact, as The Hollywood Reporter pointed out, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts gave a verbal shout-out to Heroes on his phone call to investors after the merger went through yesterday. It's always a good thing to impress the new boss.

Adrian Pasdar's final bows

This time, Heroes' Nathan Petrelli is really most sincerely dead.

Nathan and the actor who plays him, Adrian Pasdar, will take their final bows Monday night (NBC, 8 ET/PT) in an emotional scene with the character's brother, Peter (Milo Ventimiglia).

The demise of Nathan, a central character, marks the most significant departure in Heroes' four-season run.

It has been a harrowing path for Nathan, a U.S. senator with the ability to fly. He was thought to have exploded at the end of Season 1 and appeared to die by an assassin's bullet in Season 2.

He recovered each time, "but some deaths really need to stick," Pasdar says. "I'm happy to have had the opportunity to have this long of a run."

Nathan actually has been dead for a while, killed by the evil Sylar (Zachary Quinto) at the end of last season. But an essence of the character survived in signature Heroes style: Mind-controlling Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) put Nathan's memories into Sylar's head, leading him to shape-shift into Nathan.

In recent episodes, Sylar's consciousness, which has remained in Matt's mind, has angled to get back his body.

"On a show where you put characters in life-and-death situations with real stakes, characters have had to die," creator Tim Kring says. Writers initially hoped to have Pasdar and some form of Nathan in all 19 episodes of Season 4 – aka "Volume 5: Redemption" – "but we were starting to run out of ways to keep that character around," he says.

Kring says it's a double loss. Pasdar is a "loved member of the cast," and the brothers' relationship has been central to the series. He called the brothers' final scene "heart-wrenching. ... Adrian has never been better, and Milo has never been better."

Whether the episode will give Heroes a ratings jolt remains to be seen. Once a hit, it has struggled to attract viewers in an earlier time slot this season (No. 62, averaging 6.8 million viewers, and No. 40 among 18- to 49-year-olds). But it's one of the better performers in time-shifted viewing, growing 25% or more when a whole week of TV watching is considered.

Kring is proud of the volume, saying "it's deeper in terms of character because it's moving a little less quickly." There's no word on a fifth season, but he says he's "fully expecting" it.

Pasdar, who would like to return to direct an episode (and there's always the chance he could return in flashback), says shows get kicked when ratings drop, but he thinks in retrospect people will realize how good Heroes is. He remembers a couple of things from his final episode. It was "a terrifically written scene," and he was hanging by a wire 40 feet off the ground.

"It's a goodbye, brotherly. 'You've got to let me go. You've got to carry on and fight the good fight for the both of us,' " he says. "It's simple and pure."

SOURCE : USATODAY

Adrian Pasdar to Leave Heroes?!

Executive producer Adam Armus danced around the subject during a recent interview. After he spilled the beans, he swore me to secrecy, and I promised not to reveal who was going to die until the cat was let out of the bag. Well, the cat clawed her way out of that bag, and it's now been reported in several outlets that Adrian Pasdar is the unlucky guy and that his character, Nathan Petrelli, will bite the dust before the year's end. E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos also reported that Pasdar learned about his character's exit not from a phone call, but from a script.

"We all know that Nathan Petrelli last year was killed, and his mind was put into Sylar's body and shape-shifted into Nathan," said Armus. "We made some commitments last year, and we've committed that there is going to be an epic battle between two characters and who's going to win and who's going to lose. That's something we've been planning all this year. So we know that someone has to lose."

"This whole Sylar-in-one-body-and-his-mind-in-another with Matt Parkman, all that's going to come to a head, because ultimately Sylar is going to win. He's ultimately going to get out of Matt Parkman's head and get back into his body," said Armus. Which would mean it's not looking good for Nathan. Somehow, even on a show called Heroes, Nathan's flying ability probably won't be a lot of help to him if he doesn't have a body.

"Once Nathan and Sylar come back together, there is a battle for the life of that body. Who is going to be in control? And whoever loses is the one that dies," said Armus. "It's the knock-down-drag-out 'Who's going to win this body?', and it's going to be between Peter and Nathan/Sylar. And Peter's going to be fighting for his brother." And obviously not winning.

SOURCE

Here's Adrian Pasdar's statement in his Youtube account.

I won't say anything. Yet. Other than that the last four years have been wonderful and ALL the folks that go into making HEROES have treated me professionally and with respect. I am still under contract to NBC/Universal, and will remain so until the end of season 4. On another note, I spent today with Masi Oka at Universal Studios, on the lot, and we had some fun behind the scenes at the Jaws attraction on the Tour... I'll post it in a bit. All I had was my iPhone, so the quality might not be as decent and you're used to... Stay Tuned!

Do you think we will still see Nathan Petrelli next season?

Heroes Spoilers from the AusellioFiles

Ausellio from EW revealed some new spoilers in the upcoming Season 4 of Heroes. It was stated that Claire and Annie (Rachel Melvin) will have a some kind of romantic relationship.

Also, it's also confirmed that Adrian Pasdar revealed the reason for casting a Young Nathan. Apparently Sylar/Nathan (as Nathan) absorbs a memory from a piece of clothing reminding him of something that happened to him when he was 11. Is this connected to the shocking thing from Angela's past as stated in the previous Heroes Spoilers??

Here's the article EW.

Question: Is it true that Claire on Heroes is going to have a romantic relationship with Rachel Melvin's new character, Annie? --Elizabeth
Ausiello: That's true. Kind of. I'm not sure about a full-blown relationship, but I can confirm that the college roomies will engage in a little sapphic experimentation. At least that's the plan. Meanwhile, Hayden P. insists rumors that she tried to wiggle out of her Heroes contract at the end of the last season have been greatly exaggerated (i.e., all lies!). "I love my job and I love where I am," she maintains. "Heroes has been such a massive part of my life. I've been doing it for four years, and at times you get restless; I think anyone would in any job. But I love what I do. I love my job. I love my cast members. They're all my family. I don't pay attention to rumors like that. That's why they're called rumors. 'Cause they're rumors." Thanks for clearing that up!

Question: Heroes scoop, please? --Justin
Ausiello: Remember me telling you that producers were casting an 11-year-old version of Nathan? Well, thanks to Adrian Pasdar, now we know why! "I absorb a memory from an article of clothing that sends me back in time to when I was 11," he explains. "Something happened to young Nathan but old Nathan doesn't remember it. How can that be? It has to do with a character we have met before."

What do you think?

Interview with Adrian Pasdar and Christine Rose

Here's an interview article from Sci-Fi Wire discussing what to expect from next Season and some scenes in Season 4 Episode 3 which is entitled Acceptance.

Pasdar confirmed that Nathan will be redeemed this season and Christine Rose (Angela Petrelli) said that there is a shocking change plan for Angela in Episode 4x03 (Acceptance). Additionally Rose once again confirmed that each episode will focus on fewer characters, so expect to see less of all the characters.

As always, the season finale of NBC's Heroes teased the next one: Sylar shape-shifted into Nathan's body, and Adrian Pasdar played a bewildered "Nathan" who started to show signs of Sylar's old watchmaking skills. This bothered Angela Petrelli (Cristine Rose), who just wanted to take her son out to lunch.

At the Saturn Awards on Wednesday, Pasdar said that he's not going to play Sylar so much as play somebody trying to imitate Nathan. (Pasdar took home a Saturn Award for best supporting actor on a television series.)

"That's the irony," Pasdar said. "I don't feel like I'm playing Sylar. I feel like I'm playing a guy who's playing Nathan. You see what I'm saying? I'm not trying to act like Sylar. Sylar's trying to act like Nathan. A little tic ... here, a little compulsive, obsessive behavior somewhere else."

Riiighht.

In a separate interview at the awards ceremony, Rose suggested that it might only get harder to follow who is playing whom on Heroes: The upcoming "volume five" has Sylar and Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) morphing into a variety of of co-stars and day players. "I just read episode 403 yesterday," Rose said. "What happens then, my mind has been so baffled, but it's a lot of fun. Yet another huge change comes for me in episode 403."

Nathan Petrelli began as a corrupt politician who was willing to let New York explode. He ultimately sacrificed himself to stop his brother, Peter, from blowing up, but later worked with the government to capture people with abilities. Pasdar suggested that his journey in the next season will finally redeem Nathan.

"I think there's going to be a good redemptive nature to his behavior this year," Pasdar said. "Somehow we're going to try to get out from underneath the dark cloud that surrounded the first couple years of his perception of what his power might be, his ability. It's nice to think it might end a little lighter. It might end with a martyrdom kind of behavior thing in order to sacrifice [himself] to serve the world."

As for that crazy episode 403 Rose mentioned, it includes the usual Petrelli parental issues. Nathan will be managing his shape-shifting, and their interaction will revolve more around Rose's Angela. "It's classic Mama Petrelli," Pasdar said. "It's more on her consistent behavior than it is on mine. I have a little bit of a shift going through my character, so she's more solid. It more resonates around her gravity pull than mine."

Rose added that the new season will spend comparatively less time with all characters. "All the stories are much smaller than they were, so each episode will be fewer people," Rose said. "So it'll be smaller stories for everyone, but I'm happy that they write my name in the script."

Both actors defended the changes in the writing staff, most notably the abrupt departure of Bryan Fuller for a second time. "Actually, there haven't been that many changes," Pasdar said. "People come and go. The core of the writing group has been there from day one. The show will end up being remembered for what it is, not for what people thought it might become or wished it had. The show is the show. You have to work with the mechanics that you're given, and we have some tremendously talented writers that work very hard every day to sculpt and craft the show. So it's my job to say what they interpret as the character. The arrivals and departures, I love Bryan Fuller. He's a good friend."

Read full article here.