Tim Kring and Zachary Quinto Discuss 'Heroes' Season 3

Talking to Tim Kring is as difficult as task as any TV fan could face. The creator of Heroes thrives in answering questions as vaguely as possible, so when Kring and Heroes star Zachary Quinto addressed questions on a conference call today, finding out specific details about Heroes season 3 was the hardest part.

However, Kring did reveal a few general ideas about how the next year of Heroes will play out, and Quinto spoke about the similarities between Sylar and Spock, who he will be playing in the new Star Trek film.

Kring did reveal that the structure of season 3 will be that volume 3, “Villains,” will last for 13 episodes, while the second half of the season will feature a 12-episode volume 4. In a slight acknowledgment to the problem of Maya and Alejandro, Kring said that all new characters introduced this season will immediately be a part of an established character's storyline.

Sylar will play a major role in the new volume, and the creator and star both spoke about what's to come. Quinto said that in a flashback episode, fans will see more of Gabriel Gray, the pre-Sylar watchmaker. This goes along with what director Allan Arkush mentioned in BuddyTV's exclusive on-set video interview about a season 3 episode going back to before the events of the pilot. Kring added that Sylar will evolve and his life will become complicated by his interactions with others. “He'll have a series of very human relationships in this season.”

Kring also addressed several unanswered Heroes questions, which may or may not excite fans. Regarding Caitlin, the Irish lass Peter befriended and accidentally left in the future, Kring admitted that we were supposed to find out what happened to her in the third episode back last season, but due to the writers' strike, Kring flippantly said that we may never get to find out her fate.

Another big question is what power Kaito Nakamura had, and the fact that a deleted scene on the Heroes season 2 DVD revealed he has the ability to see all the variables of a situation and predict an inevitable outcome, such as analyzing the stock market to earn money. Kring said they intentionally revealed this on the DVD for hardcore fans, though he set no time table for when people who only watch the show on TV might get to learn of Kaito's power.

Quinto was asked about his upcoming role as Spock in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, and the actor revealed that he sees several similar traits when playing the logical Vulcan and the sociopath villain. “There are elements of the characters that echo each other, but from opposite ends of the spectrum,” Quinto said. He added that they both have “a stillness and a rich internal point of view that informs the way they behave.”

Heroes returns for season 3 September 22 with a three-hour event that starts at 8pm with a countdown special to remind fans what has happened, followed by the first two episodes of the new volume.

"HEROES"
"CLIP SHOW"

09/22/2008 (08:00PM - 09:00PM) (Monday) : HEROES: COUNTDOWN TO THE PREMIERE SPECIAL PRESENTED BY SPRINT -- A WALK DOWN THE RED CARPET AND INTO THE EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE PARTY WITH THE CAST -- Sept. 22, 8pm ET -- To celebrate "HEROES" special two-hour Season Three premiere, with two action-packed episodes airing back-to-back, the cast of NBC's award-winning drama hosts a special one-hour countdown special that will take viewers behind-the-scenes and down the red carpet, through the ropes and into the exclusive premiere party at L.A. hot spot Edison. As the last minutes before "Volume Three: Villains" tick down, an assortment of special, never-before-broadcast segments will highlight special moments, review key details, and reveal some fun, all-new information about the worldwide phenomena's past two seasons, including a review of possible suspects in "Who Shot Nathan?"; a peek at how some cool special effects sequences were pulled off; a look at the series' increasing global popularity and sample of some of the many languages the series has been translated into; an exclusive reveal of the series' many inside nods to "Star Trek"; and much more.