A few weeks ago, it was announced that Heroes creator Tim Kring and Universal Television were shopping a revival series called Heroes: Eclipsed to potential buyers. It would be the second revival for the once-popular NBC show, with the first being the 13-episode miniseries Heroes Reborn in 2016. As one of those people who would openly admit years later that I was super excited for Heroes Reborn, I look to this news with caution, but I still know that, as Mohinder Suresh might have once said, there is potential in all things.
I’m not the only one who is curious: Even the original Heroes podcast, The 10th Wonder Podcast, recorded a new episode today, which inspired this post. Sadly, KSiteTV’s original Heroes portal HeroSite was swiped by domain squatters, but we did land the @HeroesEclipsed Twitter/X handle for those who want to keep up the latest news, so check it out.
So, assuming Heroes: Eclipsed does get picked up as a series eventually, here’s a wish list of ten things that I (KSiteTV’s Craig Byrne) would personally like to see from the new show — including some things that need to be avoided. I’ve recently rewatched a bit of Heroes Season 1, so it’s fresh on my mind and I’m ready to roll!
10. Bring back more of the original creative team… and the original studio location.
There were so many great writers, directors, producers, and crew that worked on Heroes the first time around, and I think it was that mix that made the show a “global phenomenon” to begin with. Folks like Mark Verheiden, Bryan Fuller, Jeph Loeb, Jesse Alexander, Greg Beeman, Joe Pokaski, Aron Coleite, Kay Foster, Adam Armus, and many others… together, they all built a fantastic world, in addition, of course, to creator Tim Kring. I’ll be the first to say I’m a fan of Tim Kring personally — he’s a nice guy, and a very creative man. I wish he didn’t let his “fan liaisons” run their mouths and dictate to and lecture the fandom, but I’m sure that wasn’t his doing. But imagine what this group of people could come up with if they were allowed to cook together once again. (And I know there are many names missing from that list; I’m just naming a few of those big names!)
Having people who know this world and also know comics and the superhero type tropes that can inspire would be beneficial, so we don’t have an “oh look, that character’s Magneto” situation, but instead have completely new experiences. It’s harder now; I know. The Marvel Cinematic Universe didn’t even exist yet when Heroes premiered. We’ve seen a lot since then. The Arrowverse happened. So, whatever happens here, needs to be a spectacle, and that comes with teamwork.
That “team” also was successful thanks to the great crew they had working on the original Heroes in Los Angeles. With no offense to those who worked on the show in Toronto — it just didn’t look the same. Now, realistically I get that NBCUniversal/Comcast probably would like for the show to cost less rather than more, but if the show even comes close to matching the original vibe, they’d be in great shape.
I had the privilege of visiting the original Heroes studio at Sunset & Gower many times in the early seasons. It was a very creative and collaborative place, with the writers’ offices just steps away from the sets. I’d love to see that magic being made again.
9. Do something new.
One of the best things about watching the Heroes pilot is that this was the first time we were “meeting” these characters, in different parts of the world, and it was great fun when they’d finally interact. Maybe one of the keys to an updated Heroes would be to replicate that feeling.
I know it’s a challenge to go new, though… even the original series had some struggles introducing new people (hello, Maya and Alejandro). Listening to the 10th Wonder podcast, they struggled with even remembering lead character names on Heroes Reborn. But if each new character is an icon like Peter, Hiro, Claire, Nathan, Mohinder, HRG and the others were the first time around, that in itself is fantastic.
8. With that said… bring out at least one big gun.
While it was great to see Jack Coleman in [most of] Heroes Reborn, as he was probably the backbone of the entire Heroes franchise as well as a great actor, there were some folks who were too busy or too uninterested in returning to the world of Heroes when Reborn happened. I’m talking about Milo Ventimiglia as Peter, Hayden Panettiere as Claire… Zachary Quinto as Sylar… even Ali Larter as Niki/Jessica/Barbara/Tracy Strauss. If even one of them resurfaced…. it would mean a lot. And if we could retcon away whatever happened to HRG, Matt Parkman, Mohinder, Angela or others so they can return, that’s great. But, if the show can go on 95% new characters, at least at the start, that might be better, and it’d keep the fans from wondering where certain characters are in a given week.
(Start the campaign for Mr. Muggles’ return now! He did lick Claire’s blood, so he might be immortal!)
7. The next generation.
On a similar note, the younger generation of characters seen in Heroes would all be young adults now. Heroes Reborn did handle Noah Gray-Cabey’s Micah well; Molly Walker was not so lucky. But what about the others… for example, didn’t Matt Parkman father a kid in the original show? That kid would be in his late teens now. Yeah, I feel old too.
Just whatever happens, please don’t have characters go back in time so they can age up and be the offspring of people too young to have parented teenagers in the first place. But Heroes would never do that to us, right?
6. License the Tim Sale font again for the credits.
I don’t remember anymore what Heroes Reborn used, but it wasn’t Tim Sale’s font. It would be a nice tribute to the man who gave us such beautiful paintings that we could credit to “Isaac Mendez” back in the day.
5. Wendy & Lisa, with the voice of Shankar.
The sound of Heroes was so unique, and while they did return for Heroes Reborn, the score wasn’t as prevalent as it was in 2006. So… maybe an encore would be nice? But this time, use them more? Yeah, I know, I know… it’s surely a budget thing and budget is always a concern in 2024.
4. Hire me.
Half-serious, half-kidding. I do need a job beyond writing for this website, though, and I do love that world and I’d be happy to help in any way I can. E-mail me!
3. Put it on broadcast.
I hear it already. “This sounds like it’ll go to Peacock.” And while I’m quite impressed with Peacock’s interface, and I’m sure new Heroes episodes would inspire interest in the classics… nothing beats weekly broadcast 13-to-22-episodes-a-season viewing for me. When I say that, I acknowledge how even NBC’s recent Quantum Leap revival looked significantly less expensive than its predecessor, but I also know that creative team did a lot with what they had, and it helped that they had some really good actors on that show.
The other thing about this, though, is that Heroes needs to be treated like an event. No burying it in some random 10PM slot somewhere, or *gasp* Fridays. I’m thinking like Mondays at 9 after The Voice, or something like that.
2. Take time to get it right.
Sure, it’s been 8 years since we last visited the world of Heroes, but it’s also true that this might be a last shot at getting this franchise back. (And even this is a surprising one). Don’t rush to air, and wait until the time is just right. After years of Marvel and DC, not to mention fantastic superhero TV in The Boys and Gen V over at Amazon Prime Video, we’ve seen a lot, and this needs to stand out. But standing out, and finding the right moment, and people who insist Heroes was never good after Season 1 can eat their words. (That criticism, by the way, isn’t true – while Season 1 was the most consistent, there were some great episodes in those later years, if you know which ones to seek out.)
This show needs to be one that even the younguns on YouTube and TikTok will carry on about how awesome it is, the next day.
1. Can we pretend Heroes Reborn never happened?
With no offense to anyone that worked on Heroes Reborn… at the end of the day, it took so many things that fans loved about Heroes and stepped on them. Broke them. I still haven’t rewatched the Heroes Reborn finale since the night it aired because I so annoyed that they killed [SPOILER]. But also, the series broke some of the “rules” that the original show seemed to set out: For example, you don’t kill the cheerleader! I get it if Hayden Panettiere was not available to appear, but to kill her off-camera and to also kill Hiro, among others… not to mention what became of Matt Parkman… a reset button might be nice. It’s doubtful, since the original announcement included the term “Evo” from the Heroes Reborn series, but we can hope, right?
…Especially since we do have a character who has precognitive dream abilities. Pamela Barnes Ewing, eat your heart out… Angela Petrelli is more powerful than you, and it all could have been a dream. Please!
What do you think? Leave some comments below!