Chuck star Zachary Levi returns to TV and NBC tonight with his role as Luke Collins on the new series Heroes Reborn.
The show has a two-hour premiere tonight – you can read our review here. Earlier this week, we spoke with Levi about Luke, who he describes as “darker, grittier, edgier and more f—ed up” than Chuck Bartowski.
When we first meet the character, he, his wife Joanne, and his young son are attending a human and Evo “unity festival” held in Odessa, Texas in 2014. “We were just there. We were at the summit, more kind of along the lines of civil rights movements or human rights movements of the past,” Levi explained, pointing out that they weren’t there because of their son being an evolved human or anything along those lines. “We weren’t necessarily the ones that were being attacked; we were the regular folk, but we thought ‘hey. We should embrace these other people. We shouldn’t be afraid of them’,” he told us.
Sadly, tragedy struck in Odessa, as we’ll see in the opening moments of Heroes Reborn… which only adds insult to injury for the Collins parents. “We went in the spirit of goodwill, and then felt — not just felt, were attacked by these very people that we were supporting. I think that’s even more what threw us off the rails, and what causes such deep fissure and pain that happens,” he recalled.
How do Mr. and Mrs. Collins deal with the loss of their son? They start hunting Evos.
“By the time you pick up with them, it’s been about a year of murder and vengeance,” Levi told us. “I do kind of feel like the only thing that’s keeping them together is this common enemy, that they have determined is their common enemy, in avenging their son. I think Luke, particularly, and you’ll come to find through the series, losing our son affected us both in really deep and powerful ways, but also in different ways. As a husband who is trying to show love to his wife, I think that he has found that maybe this is the best way for him to show her love, which is strange… The couple that kills together, stays together.”
When taking the role, did Zachary Levi hope for his character to have a power of his own?
“I definitely wanted a power,” Levi said. “I still wake up every day, hoping beyond hope that somehow my genes will mutate and I’ll have a power,” Levi says. “I’ve thought about this for most my adult — no, no. Just most of my life in general, not just my adult life. Flying – obviously. Awesome. Everybody wants to fly. I’d love to fly. But then I started breaking down and analyzing ‘what would go into that?’ If I wanted to actually fly anywhere, there’s flight time I need to consider. Do I need oxygen or not, depending on how high I’m flying? Do I need some sort of visor to keep the wind and bugs out of my face? Also, if I want to go anywhere with any of my friends, I have to carry them and our bags, which means I need superhuman strength as well. I don’t want to deal with that. Teleportation – whatever I’m touching comes with me – so, friends, bags, Bermuda. And it’s instantaneous. Jet lag… forget that! So, that would be my drug of choice,” Levi explained.
Heroes Reborn premieres tonight on NBC. Here are some extras you might enjoy to tie in with the episode:
Discussion Forum – Tim Kring Interview – More Interviews – Advance Review – Cast Gallery – HeroSite.net Twitter
