WHO’S THAT HERO?
Heroes Reborn, out on Blu-ray and DVD on May 9 courtesy of Universal Pictures (UK), sees Tim Kring return to the universe he created so vividly in the original run of Heroes. What’s more, the event series in which Kring reintroduces us to some familiar faces is also available as a complete box set with Seasons 1-4 of its parent show, allowing fans to really fill their boots in a world that has ignited a dedicated fan base in the years since it’s original airing.
However, Heroes Reborn also introduces us to some new faces with a new roster of deeply spiffy super powers – and sci-fi and fantasy fans are likely to feel right at home thanks to our new set of heroic sorts arriving with a weighty genre pedigree. So here, for your delight and delectation, is a guide to who’s who and where you recognise them from:
Zachary Levi
Louisiana born Levi will be familiar to many thanks to his starring role in Chuck where he played a hapless computer nerd who accidentally downloads a bevy of national secrets direct into his brain, making him an overnight superspy and asset to be guarded in one fell swoop. The series ran for five seasons from 2007 but Levi will also be familiar to sci-fi fans for his role in Thor: The Dark World and voice roles in Disney’s Tangled and Star Wars: Detours. Heroes Reborn see Levi star as the troubled Luke Collins and whilst his opening scenes beg the question just how heroic this chap is, as ever with Kring’s babies, there’s more to him than meets the eye.
Robbie Kay
Brit Robbie Kay will be best known to the legion of fans coping with an operating obsession with ABC’s soap-come-fairy tale hybrid, Once Upon A Time. Playing a very malevolent iteration of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan (who is also the father of Robert Carlyle’s Rumpelstiltskin – no, us neither…) Kay caused the main cast all manner of trouble throughout the latter half of season four before returning to take an additional bow in Season 5, marking 100 episodes of House Of Mouse mash-ups. Eagle-eyed viewers will also recognise him from his turn as ‘Cabin Boy’ in Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
Ryan Guzman
Okay, not strictly a genre star, the profoundly handsome Guzman will nevertheless be familiar to many thanks to a jaw line that just won’t quit and the fact that he also features in cult hit Pretty Little Liars. Add to that the fact that starred as Rio in the recent cinematic version of Jem And The Holograms, the live action imagining of the popular 80s cartoon and his camp/cult factor skyrockets. Factor in two entries into the Step Up series and all of a sudden he’s high-kicking himself into the realms of ‘one to watch’.
Judy Shekoni
If you’re of the ‘never forget a face’ persuasion then Shekoni will immediately transport you to Walford on sight. Ask anyone to tell you what her character (called Precious, in case you wondered) got up to during her tenure on Albert Square, however, and you might be met with blank stares. That said, Shekoni has managed to what many an ex-soap star hasn’t and has transplanted a burgeoning career to the States. Like Kay, she’s also an alumni of Once Upon A Time, having been unceremoniously killed in Neverland, but she also cropped up in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 and the much-loved Brothers And Sisters.
Rya Kihlstedt
The wife of Ally McBeal star Gil Bellows, Kihlstedt has racked up quite the genre back catalogue, having cropped up in Early Edition (Kyle Chandler gets tomorrow’s paper today and can change the future as a result – remember?) before a run of crime dramas led to a recurring role in the magnificent Dexter. Late of both Masters Of Sex and Nashville, Kihlstedt has also starred in cult horror The Atticus Institute and, along with most of her Heroes Reborn newbies, has also featured in Once Upon A Time.
