07/20/2007
This week at NBC’s TCA (Television Critics Association) Press Tour party, tv.ign.com’s staff members were able to speak to Jack Coleman and Hayden Panettiere about their characters, Noah and Claire Bennet, and what’s to come in Season 2.

Here’s the highlights:

About shooting Season 2 so far, and the Bennets’ storyline:

Panettiere: “Wonderful. It’s been really, really, really fun. It’s been great.”

Coleman: “The Bennet family has relocated; I can’t tell you exactly where. It’s a new world. The secrets they keep from each other are new secrets. The old secrets have all been divulged. We’re not repeating old ground, but there’s old ghosts and old habits that are about to rear their ugly head in a very dramatic way.” [The entire family was together again at the start of the season] “in a very difficult, awkward circumstance, that they all have to try to deal with and it gets pretty sticky pretty quickly.”

As for the bigger picture of the Heroes world:

Panettiere: “We find everyone four months from where we left of. We’re not sure who’s alive and who’s dead, and yadda yadda. There’s a lot of things that have happened in those four months, so we’re going to find out about that. But Claire’s trying to be a normal girl again. She’s fighting to find that inner teenager in her.” [Claire will discover that] “the irony of it is no matter where you go, everything is kind of always the same. Everyone kind of looks the same.”

Cheerleader outfit during Season 2:

Panettiere: “Possibly. Possibly! I wouldn’t say goodbye to the cheerleading outfits just yet. She is ‘The Cheerleader.” [...] “except maybe this season, she might actually do some cheering! I’ve told the producers ‘We need to talk about this cheering thing!’”

About the success Heroes achieved in the past year:

Coleman: “Taking the whole entirety of the last twelve months, it is pretty staggering. It’s funny because it happens in increments so you don’t see the snowball building the way it has been. But nobody knew the show was going to be what it is. I think everybody suspected it had a chance to be successful, but not on its way to being an international brand. We’re doing great – all around the world it’s doing really well. We’re about to go all over the world to promote it. It’s ridiculously exciting.”

Big special effects and prosthetic makeup scenes in Season 2:

Panettiere: “Oh, I’m sure! She is the indestructible cheerleader, so you assume she’ll be at the front of most of that action stuff.”

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This week Entertainment Weekly Magazine celebrates its 100th issue (on stands now, on the cover Hayden Panettiere ‘Claire Bennet’).

The special edition of EW Magazine includes the list of the top 100 celebrities of the world of entertainment. Heroes‘ Hayden Panettiere and the Masi Oka and George Takei ‘team’ are on the list.

Read the whole article on Hayden Panettiere

Hayden Panettiere
Teen Dream

WHY HER The breakout star of TV’s hottest new drama, Heroes, Panettiere plays Claire, an unbreakable high school girl who became synonymous with the show when the catchphrase ”Save the cheerleader, save the world!” entered the pop culture lexicon. ”I think it was very clever,” says the New York-born actress, although she admits that calls of ”Hey, cheerleader!” now follow her around Los Angeles. ”But it’s fun. It’s not an obnoxious thing.” Technically speaking, Claire doesn’t actually spend much time shaking pom-poms. ”I told [Heroes creator] Tim Kring I need to cheer at some point,” the actress says with a laugh. ”She wears the outfit all the time!”

Read the whole article on Masi Oka and George Takei

Greatest American Heroes
George Takei and Masi Oka

WHY THEM As Sulu on Star Trek, Takei, 70, blazed trails for Asian-American actors. As Hiro, time-warping supernerd of Heroes, Oka, 33, is just blazing. It was a stroke of genius and great respect to cast them as father and son on the new show.

Last Tuesday night, at the Cabana Club in Hollywood,
the whole crew and cast of Heroes celebrated the end of shooting of season one.

The video highlights of the evening include interviews with cast members: Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli), Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet), Jack Coleman (HRG), Zachary Qunto (Sylar), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan PetrellI) and more.

Mild spoilers warning, including Hayden stating she’ll…(watch the video to know!)