Written by: Michael Hickerson (SoSF Staff Journalist)
Television critics got a tour of the “Heroes” set yesterday as part of the annual TCA summer meetings. TV Guide On-Line reporter Michael Ausiello had a few interesting tid-bits about casting for the season season of NBC’s hit series.
These could be considered SPOILERS, so if you don’t want to know, please surf on to our next story.
The first big news is that the role of Claire’s cheerleading friend has been reduced to one episode and cut from the storyline. The actress, Lyndsy Fonseca, has been cast in a recurring role on ABC’s “Desparate Housewives” and so the potential storyline for this character has been dropped.
“She wasn’t a pivotal character,” series creator Tim Kring said of Claire’s pal, who will now appear in just one episode. “The idea was that that part would grow, but it never got a chance to.”
New Hero Dania Ramirez revealed that when we first meet her character, Maya, “she’s on the run from the cops.”
The critics also noted that Leonard Roberts who plays D.L. on the show was not part of the tour. This is the second time this summer that Roberts has not been part of a “Heroes” cast panel though Kring cautioned everyone to “not read too much into this.” (It wouldn’t be surprising since last time we saw D.L., he’d been shot and apparently fataly wounded).
During the tour, Zachary Quinto wouldn’t confirm nor deny that he had been cast as Spock in the upcoming J.J. Abrams “Star Trek” movie. Quinto has expressed interest in the iconic role and is heavily rumored to be the front-runner for the role.
In other Abrams news, Abrams favorite star Greg Grunberg hinted he may be involved in “Cloverfield,” which is the mysterious trailer/project that has been generated a great deal of hype and speculation, running before summer-hit “Transformers.”
“Heroes” is currently filming its second season and returns to NBC later this year.
Sam, I’ve never heard of “Coverdale”: are you sure you don’t mean “Cloverfield”?
Thanks for catching that Mark. My bad.