Heroes fan favorite Hiro Nakamura will make his return to NBC’s “reboot” of the series in Heroes Reborn. When OMFGTV spoke with his portrayer, Masi Oka, we were surprised to learn that there was a point where he and a lot of the original cast didn’t think they would be invited back.
“I was confused because it was a surprise, like nobody knew [the series was returning],” Oka says. “We didn’t know about it. We were like “Uh oh, is this happening without us?”
It was only after the teaser aired during the Winter Olympics did they learn of the show’s comeback.
“All the [original] cast mates, we were all texting each other, ‘Did you hear about this?!’ Nobody knew about it! Then ten minutes later I got an email from Tim saying ‘Hey, do you have time to talk?’ And then it kind of started from there.”
Masi Oka, who is ecstatic because he loves the show, says that the series’ built-in audience is a good thing, but that that also provides some challenges.
“Globally there’s a lot more acceptance to the show immediately because it is an established brand. At the same time, we know that the hurdle is high, the stakes are high, because there’s such expectations. So we’ve got to hit the gate running or we’re going to be disappointing a lot of people.”
Viewers familiar with Heroes will recognize and be familiar with the new series’ storytelling and the way things interweave.
“It’s going to be great for fans of the old series. They’ll recognize a lot of the Easter eggs, a lot of the format. But you don’t need to know the old series to be able to jump into the new one. I think it’s a great format for everyone to be able to enjoy from scratch.”
Heroes Reborn airs Thursdays at 8pm on NBC.