Is there any aspect of HRG’s life over the missing years that you’re the most curious about, like whatever happened to Sandra or Lyle?
Well, Lyle is always a big mystery… whatever happened to Lyle. The thing with Sandra is, by Season 4, I was divorced, so you can justify her not being in my life a lot more than you can justify my son not being in my life. There’s also the whole idea of what really happened with Claire and HRG, that created this falling out… I mean, I know that the thing in New York where she jumped off the tower, that was the beginning of the end for their friendship. That was certainly the schism that was created. But they’ve had many fallings-out before and never went four years without talking to each other, so it would be very interesting to know whether any entreaties were made, or whether they ever tried to approach each other, and if so, why it didn’t work.
If Hiro Nakamura was a real person and came to you when you were filming the Heroes pilot in 2006, and told you you’d still be playing that character nine years later, would you have believed him?
No, I would not have. There is a five year interim period there where we were all fallow, but no. I mean, it’s crazy. I started out — I think I had six lines in the pilot, and then to be playing this character all these years later… I will say, and I’m sure I’ve told you this before, that just the way the part was laid out, in the pilot, this guy chasing people with powers, and then is the father of the cheerleader who has the power… I saw tremendous potential in this character, but not in a million years would I have imagined that it would be this.
On the note of going to extreme lengths, does HRG have anything at all in common with Erica Kravid?
I think at the end of the day, Erica is a sociopath, and quite literally lacks empathy. She fakes human emotions, even with her daughter. I’m not saying that she has no attachment to her daughter, but her daughter is of kind of a minor consequence to her compared to her bigger schemes. So, I don’t think that HRG, even in his young days when he was a true believer and was a dangerous guy for being a true believer, as all true believers are… I actually think that Erica is a sociopath who is not quite [right] in the head.
Do you think we’ve seen the last of Quentin?
I’ll just say that Quentin would be a terrible character to lose.
Is there a particular new character in Heroes Reborn that really intrigued you the most?
I immediately loved the character of Quentin, and I love the whole idea of this sort of hyperactive — he’s always reminded me a bit of Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now, that sort of thorn in the side of HRG, the ultimate straight man. I loved that character right away, and I loved playing these scenes with Henry right away, and as time went on, he started to improvise more and more. A number of his funnier lines have been trimmed or cut out, for time and keeping the story moving and stuff, so there’s that, and then just the idea of Miko and this going in between an animated computer game and the real world… computer games, I’m too old for that stuff. It’s not in my wheelhouse at all. But right away, I just felt like it was a really creative and interesting character that we hadn’t seen before.
The camera lands on Kiki [Sukezane] and it just falls in love with her. I just think that that was immediately something that I thought was really different, and I was very happy that Heroes would go to a place that I don’t think anybody’s done with a character before. I may be wrong. Sci-fi is not my genre, as you may know.
What do you think would make Noah Bennet completely happy, without memory wipes?
Without memory wipes… I think that right now, other than a lasting truce and happily-ever-after with Claire, short of that, I’m not sure, other than just to stop this event which is coming, stop Erica Kravid, and frankly go back to Julia, his betrothed, because she, unfortunately, ended up on the cutting room floor, not through any fault of her own, other than the shows were long and very plot-heavy, and we had to get into it right away. So, the fact that we were not necessarily going to end — or we were not really going to follow Noah and Julia, so therefore, she bore the brunt of the story editing — but I do think that he was genuinely happy with her, from everything we discussed and the scenes that we shot, and the scenes that were cut that we never got to shoot. There was real potential for happiness there, so I think that having Claire safe, their relationship mended, and going back to Julia, and somehow finding Lyle… Lyle may very well be in military academy somewhere, that’s kind of our working theory.
If NBC and Tim Kring were to come to you, wanting to do a second season of Heroes Reborn, would you be up for it?
Yeah. Sure. I would be up for it. I’m definitely game. I’d be interested to see what the thought was or the plan was. I have a feeling that HRG could be more in a Obi-Wan Kenobi sort of role… I’m not sure. But yeah. I would be up for it.
Do you have any final words for the fans who have followed Heroes since the beginning, or the ones who may have just joined on?
Obviously, we really appreciate those people that have been with us from the beginning, that are still with us… I think that these coming episodes are going to be really rewarding for those fans, because they’re going to get to see a lot of the old favorites. And for new fans: I hope that it’s all making sense, and falling together, because it’s a lot of fun to do.
It’s a huge, massive show. I think everybody should come see what it’s like to make this show for a week, to get an idea of what an undertaking it is…. the locations, and the stunts, and the CGI, and motion capture, and shooting in Paris, and Iceland, and Jordan, and East L.A., and Toronto…. it’s a massive undertaking, this show. I would love for all fans, old and new, to really get an inside glimpse of what a beast this thing is.
Heroes Reborn “June 13th – Part One” airs TONIGHT at 8PM (ET/PT) on NBC. Take a look at some preview images below!
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