Heroes: Origins announced for next season

[fu manchu]

from CBR's BEHIND THE ECLIPSE: "HEROES" WEEK 23

Congratulations on the "Origins" spin-off! Will this be the same writing and production staff working on this as the regular series? Are additional writers being brought in? If it's the same staff, man are you guys going to be tired!

Thanks. We’re very excited about Origins – and we think you guys will be too. Same writers, but probably a different production staff. And yes, we’re going to be tired. But what else is new?

What is the origin of "Origins?" How did this all come about and what was the impetus behind it? And when exactly will this run?

The impetus, we think came from a discussion as to how "Heroes" can run without a break. The network asked for 30 episodes, but Tim thought it would dilute the series too heavily. So Co-Executive Producer Jesse Alexander had a brilliant idea: What about an anthology aspect to our universe? Several one-hours dedicated to the origin stories. Everyone fell for it hard. When it will run is still to be locked down – one possibility is to have one or two during the Christmas break and run the rest after season 2 ends. But this may change come gameday.

We understand that "Origins" will focus on a new character each week and the audience will be able to vote on whether that character gets added to the series. Any idea how the voting on that will work yet? Phone/text messaging? Online polls? And can you tell us will these be characters in the present or possibly in the past? Now, does this necessarily mean that if a character doesn't get voted on to the show, we'll never see them again?

We have no idea how any of that is going to work. Hopefully in the coolest way possible. But if two or three characters pop – why wouldn’t we use them?

Also regarding "Origins," there has been some rumblings in forums of people concerned that this exploits the "Heroes" idea too far or spreads you guys too thin. Now, we're sure you all wouldn't commit to something like this unless you felt you could continue to hit it out of the park, but can you address those fans fears a bit?

It’s a pretty valid concern, but fear not. We don’t do things halfway here at all. We think "Origins" will be very different from "Heroes." From a writing standpoint, it’s like exercising a different set of muscles, because we’ll be telling one story from beginning to end in one hour, as opposed to a serialized segment of one of up to 10 stories week-to-week. Some of the most fun we’ve had are episodes like "Company Man" that allow you to dig a little deeper into a character’s soul.

That should allay some fans fears. It sounds like, in some ways, "Origins" will be a way for you all to mix things up as you progress through the season.

 

[Caliber]

Origins should be good but I don't think it will do so well.

 

[GL1]

If it's own Heroes night in place of heroes, there's no reason it'll do any worse...

 

[Mattchew]

If it's own Heroes night in place of heroes, there's no reason it'll do any worse...

there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

 

[Katsuro]

I personally have a feeling that most Origins episodes will be better than the average regular episode (though possibly not as good as ones like Landslide or Company Man).

The idea just sounds really intriguing. Short, one-hour stories about people discovering powers. Sounds like a blast.

 

[MakeMineMarvel]

Since viewership is what usually keeps a show on, why wouldn't they honor the votes of the viewers? Why would you want to keep a character that the viewers vote against, when that will likely lower viewership?

 

[Sebastos]

So we have to chose a hero from "Origins" to join the show as a regular? That should be cool. What powers to you guys think these new Heroes will have?

 

[TwilightPro101]

Yeah, I dont like the idea of viewers picking which character stays. Let the writers do what's best for the story they have planned out.

Don't either. It's going to be HEROES: SURVIVIOR essentially, which just doesn't bold well for HEROES writing.

 

[Sebastos]

Yeah but, don't we have to vote for the one we like the most? And then he or she become a regular on the show?

 

[TwilightPro101]

Something like that. The fact that it's going to be stand alone episodes makes it questionable in its own right.

 

[Sebastos]

Yeah but we'd have to see what they're about. I think it's interesting, and the stories could be great. It can be like we get an introduction on who they are, and then later one of them as a connection to whatever is going in Season 2.

 

[TwilightPro101]

Sounds risky and interesting. I'll give it a shot, no question since I'm a fan of the show.

 

[Sebastos]

Yeah, i'm going to check it out for sure.

 

[Abaddon]

the voting thing is stupid

 

[Tempest19]

Well, I've always wanted a character that I could relate to alot on the show- a fellow teenage guy getting powers. So, this might be my chance to add another demographic character into the show- I mean, that's really the only demographic character missing now.

The character I was able to access early episodes through alot was Zach.

So, hopefully this will even it all out.

 

[TwilightPro101]

I think they've been fielding the teenage area with Claire, but it would be nice to have someone her age to relate to.

 

[Sebastos]

Yeah for next season it's been confirmed that she's going to have a love interest. Something about him being from another country or something.

 

[TwilightPro101]

That'll truly add a new layer to the character. Glad she's back with Mr. Bennett as well.

 

[Sebastos]

Yeah I thought it was great to see her back with Mr. Bennett. Or should I say, Noah.

 

[TwilightPro101]

Oh yeah, let's not forget that final reveal. Fleshing his character out that much more.

 

[Sebastos]

Yeah, I found it so cool that we finally got his first name.

 

[TwilightPro101]

Just the little things. Reminds me a lot of Whedon and Jeph Loeb's work. Of course having Jeph Loeb there producing will do that.

 

[Sebastos]

Just the little things. Reminds me a lot of Whedon and Jeph Loeb's work. Of course having Jeph Loeb there producing will do that.

Loeb producing is awesome. He even wrote some of the episodes. I hope he continues to write more of them.

 

[TwilightPro101]

As far as I can tell, he's back for another season.

 

[Sebastos]

Well then that's great to hear.