TV.com: Calling all Heroes

Heroes has swooped down from the TV sky and pulled NBC from the train tracks. The show, about ordinary people the world over who discover they have extrtaordinary powers, has become the highest-rated new show of the season and was the first to receive a full-season order from its network.

The forces behind Heroes sat down last week for a conference call about the show and its current storyline, which centers on the slowly coalescing group attempting to save cheerleader Claire Bennett (Hayden Panettiere) from an unknown menace.

Joining show creator Tim Kring were Ali Larter, who plays the mysterious Nikki, a woman with a severe dark side; Santiago Cabrera, the painter who can see the future; Milo Ventimiglia, the young man who can absorb the powers of those he is around; and Adrian Pasdar, a politician who can fly--and possibly do other things.

The actors had no idea what was in store for them when they signed on, but they were excited by the prospect.

"Going into the pilot I had no idea what my power was," said Ventimiglia. "It wasn't until a couple months into it that Tim walked up to me and said, 'I think we figured out Peter.'"

Larter also didn't have any idea where the show was going, but she wanted to be on board.

"For me, when I read the pilot, I didn't know what direction the show was going in other than you have a really complicated woman who is trying to take care of her son," she said. "But now we're leading to a duality, a normal side and shadow side, that can can live out all of our dark fantasies."

Santiago says he would use his powers if he possessed them in real life, once he understood them.

"Well I think it depends on whether you're in control of it or not," the actor said. "At the moment he is not consciously controlling it, so it is freaky. Why is this all happening? If I was in control of it then I would try to change things, yes."

Pasdar says that although his character, self-serving politician Nathan Petrelli, hasn't been acting very heroically so far, something occurs soon that will cause a change.

"An accident happens in episode nine or 10 that Peter feels very guilty about," Pasdar explained. "We get information that explains why his wife is in a wheelchair."

Kring, who worked on the '80s cult classic Misfits of Science, is enjoying this current phase of his career.

"Misfits was so long ago I barely remember it," he said. "I have had a long and varied career; I have been involved in a lot of different genres. I go where the road takes me."

Kring affirms that the Sylar character, who so far has been seen only briefly, will become a much more central figure.

"Its safe to say that in a show that's called Heroes you need to have villians," Kring confirmed. "He will become the major villian for the first season."

Kring advises that fans hold off on pinning the grotesque, bizarre murders that have peppered the episodes on any one of the characters, no matter how creepy the character may seem.

"The heads cut off and the brains missing is an MO," he explained. "You'll have to stay tuned to see if its relating to Claire's dad."

Pasdar says that even if the Sylar mystery is wrapped up, the overall story is just beginning.

"There really can be no end--one door closes another opens," he insisted. "There may be periodic endings to subplots, but the overall arc of the story is just neverending."

Pasdar thinks the show has struck at the right moment for TV watchers' tastes.

"Sci-fi is hot because it's cyclical, it's the fantasy element that can't be overlooked," he said. "I think when times are as dire as they are now it seems like this kind of escapism takes root faster. I think people are drawn to the escapism."

"Yeah, what Adrian said," Ventimiglia added, laughing.

Pasdar knows the show's writers will only reveal the powers of these heroes to the world when they need to for dramatic purposes.

"How long will he be able to keep the powers under wraps? Well, it's TV, so for as long as they need to," he joked. "When they need to they'll serve it out into pieces. There will probably be someone who finds out about it and has to be dealt with, and could be a liability."

Ventimigilia says that there won't be any romance that occurs once the team has saved the cheerleader and the world.

"Yeah, [the actress] is 17, so it's never gonna happen," he joked. "But I think there is a definite connection that Claire develops with Peter. But he has a connection with all the characters he comes in contact with."