When OMFGTV sat down with some of the cast members of NBC’s highly anticipated series Heroes Reborn recently, we were surprised to learn who won’t be returning to the powerful drama.
Masi Oka, who portrays fan-favorite Hiro Nakamura, revealed that he is not a series regular for the limited series.
“I’m only in for three episodes,” explains Oka. “I’m contractually on a different show so I’m not allowed to be doing this [full time], but thanks to the generosity of CBS and NBC, I was allowed to do three episodes.”
Not only are we bummed that Hiro appears in less than half of the season’s episodes, but more importantly, Hiro’s lovable sidekick Ando Masahashi (James Kyson) is nowhere to be found.
“They were a great dynamic, but it’s also not our story,” he says. “The way I see it, it’s great to work with a lot of the original cast, but our arc has been done. I kind of see it as us passing the torch to the new generation, for the new fans to find the newer characters and fall in love with new characters.”
One other face who will be absent from Heroes Reborn is Adam Monroe played by David Anders. We tracked him down and asked him about whether or not he would be involved and says that he had not been approached by creator Tim Kring.
“I thought I had job security on that [show] when I got that part. [My] power was I couldn’t die; I’m not supposed to die. But that comic-book of a show found a way. I don’t know if there’s coming back from a pile of ash. Pour some water on it? That would be fun. I’ll text Greg [Grunberg] because I know he’s back. I’ll text Jack [Coleman]. I don’t have Tim’s number. That’s a number I should have.”
Speaking of Greg Grunberg, his character’s family — his wife and child — are MIA. When asked if they are re-introduced, Grunberg says “not yet.” And while he says it would be “really cool” to explore the story about his child and her powers, he feels that Reborn is a little bit too crowded.
“There’s so many characters!” he exclaims. “We’ve got to kill some of these people! We got to just get rid of them. I mean, jeez, come on!”
Sure, he’s fine with the other characters getting killed off, as long as Matt Parkman isn’t one of them.
“Tim emailed me and said, ‘Are you ready to come play?’ and I said, ‘Only if you don’t kill me.’ That’s all I said and he still didn’t answer the question. So I’m hoping I don’t get killed off. That’s the one thing I dread.”
Will Matt Parkman survive the season? Find out when Heroes Reborn premieres Thursday, September 24, on NBC.