Fans treated to Heroes premiere

Fanboys at the San Diego convention centre got a surprise on Saturday: 6,500 of them watched the first episode of Heroes third season premiere: “Villains.”

Creator Tim Kring was armed with a DVD of the first episode, which just finished production. Creating buzz was crucial to Kring. He knows the last season disappointed some viewers and he’s intent on making the upcoming third season the show’s creative comeback.

The goal for season three, he says, is to have a more exciting and propulsive story.

“Last time we tried to do a slow build up,” he says. “This time we’re going to start the story right away and we’re off to the races.”

But for a still-new hit series, Heroes has had a somewhat rocky ride, fuelled by a truncated season last year and by the reactions of those rabid viewers.

“The double-edged sword of our fan base is they have a passion for the show,” Mr. Kring said. “And that passion cuts both ways. It cuts towards, ‘You’re the greatest thing ever’ and towards ‘You’ve disappointed me.’ ”

Kring says the break afforded by the writers strike has benefited the show -both creatively and in terms of building fan anticipation.

“I think the months we’re off the air might actually help,” he says. “We only had a four-day break between season one and two.”

Also, unlike last season, any new characters will only be introduced through existing characters’ storylines, rather than trying to launch unfamiliar characters in their own stand-alone stories (such as Maya and Alejandro last series).

Kring also revealed that a full episode’s worth of extra footage that was shot before the strike cut short last season will be included on the season two DVD.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, fan favourite heroes are quickly launched into urgent new storylines. Within about 20 minutes, it’s clear the episode is much better than the season two premiere.

“We are not dragging a lot of story behind us,” he said. “It you started cold, I think you could pick up the thread. That is the goal from here on out.”

Afterwards, cast members including Milo Ventimiglia, Greg Grunberg, Masi Oka and Hayden Panettiere took the stage for a short Q&A session.

Seven will ‘burn off’ the final 2 episodes of Heroes’ second season next week in order to put some space before the revamped third season.

Source: Hollywood Reporter (warning spoilers)