The original Heroes had a compelling, albeit imperfect first season fueled by an intriguing premise and some good performances. But after the climax of that storyline, it became clear that producer Tim Kring didn’t know what the hell he was doing with Sylar, Hiro, and the gang. Over the next several seasons, the show simmered into a overcooked slurry of daffy plot twists and paper-thin characters. Eventually, NBC let Heroes drop and hate-watchers moved on to other projects.
Last year, we reported that NBC went off its meds and granted Tim Kring the power to revive Heroes with the Heroes Reborn event series. Back in February, we saw a micro-trailer that was short enough to remind us that we liked Heroes for a few episodes while not reminding us that Heroes was mostly awful. Last month, a teaser revealed a dystopian future where the public protested in the streets, demanding the return of their Heroes. Now NBC has released the official trailer for Heroes Reborn.
Things look decidedly darker for the evolved humans, a.k.a. “EVOs,” whom are now “dead or hiding.” Noah Bennet, a.k.a. “HRG,” a.k.a. “Michael Douglas from Falling Down,” has hung up his horn-rimmed glasses, but it looks like he’s getting pulled out of retirement. Tough-bearded Zachary Levi appears to be leading a support group for EVOs, before gunning them all down. Meanwhile, mobs are chanting and carrying signs as EVOs are being hounded by tactical units.
As if stepping dramatically through the swinging doors of a Dodge City saloon, the returning cast is introduced—including the portentous return of Mohinder, because we all loved Mohinder so much. Matt Parkman pops in, Angela “Ma” Petrilli rolls up (mercifully childless), and grown-up Micah is so unrecognizable that he has to introduce himself by name. Hiro appears to be in full-on badass mode, which is probably a bummer for everybody hoping to get a second-serving of amnesia-stricken office drone Hiro. The trailer closes on a girl who appears to be unsuccessfully manipulating some sort of Aurora Borealis/solar eclipse mashup, which teases at a potential explanation for all of these wacky powers (or at least why it’s so dry in California).
If this “freaks being chased by torches and pitchforks” storyline is familiar, it’s probably because you’ve read an issue or two of The X-Men, or seen any of the movies. Unoriginality notwithstanding, it’s probably better that Kring crib from the defining archetype of the genre, rather than going back to the unfocused, hot slop he cooked up last time around. Expect a bunch of EVO red shirts to get shot in the face when Heroes Reborn: Days Of Mohinder Past comes to NBC on September 24.