“Heroes” Stars Talk About Season Four

Most fans of “Heroes” agree that the first season of the show was great and that the following seasons have been a bit lacking.

One of the stars of the show, Masi Oka who plays Hiro agrees with that assessment and says that the series upcoming fourth season is do or die time for the NBC show.

“Without a doubt, Season 1 was absolute lightning in the bottle, so for Season 2 and 3 it was definitely hard for us to meet expectations,” Oka tells Wired. “In Season 4, we understand our backs might be a little bit against the wall but because of that we’re creatively swinging for the fences and taking bold risks. I would probably say Season 4 is my second-favorite season so far.”

Oka says that will start for his character, finding Hiro on his deathbed.

“Hiro has a terminal illness and he’s going through the whole bucket-list thing. I think he’s taking life a little bit more seriously and balance between hope and despair. This is kind of a new thing for him,” Oka says. “We’re going to be asking the audience to go on a real emotional ride where we don’t want to just pull the rug and say, ‘Oops! It’s not that’ or just kill him silently. We don’t cheat death like we have in the past and not give it the weight it’s meant to be. Whatever outcome we come up with, you know, we think we will do it poetic justice to the story line.”

Oka said that he feels the reduced episode count for season four will be an asset to the show. To make room for both “Chuck” and “Heroes,” NBC ordered 19 episodes of “Heroes” for the first half of the season and 13 episodes of “Chuck” for after the Winter Olympics.

“I think 25 episodes stresses out a story line because you have to dilute a story line and make a filler episode that is not going to be as strong as it should be. Having 19, you can make every episode so packed with story, you know, character development, action, all that,” he said.

“The writers as well as the crew and the cast do get burnt out after doing continuous episodes over and over and it feels like a factory rather than something of a creative process. And we get tapped out,” he added. “That’s just my opinion. With this amount of story, it’s just nice when you can keep it moving. There doesn’t have to be any fillers. What would usually take 22 episodes will be compressed to 19. For longevity’s sake, I think it’s a better decision.”

Fans may recall that earlier this summer, we reported on the plotline for Claire Bennett, played by Hayden Pantierre that would involved Claire heading to college with a new roommate. One aspect of that plotline was a potential romantic tension between Claire and her new roommate

“This new character Gretchen, who becomes my roommate, comes along, and she becomes that person for me. And it’s a very interesting relationship because there’s a little bit of a flirting with the whole “Are we friends? Are we more? Like, do I have feelings for you in that way?” So, that’s the relationship so far, and where exactly it’s going I have no idea,” Pantierre says.

“Heroes” begins its fourth season Monday night on NBC.