Fans of the hit NBC series Heroes can rest easy, with the knowledge that the series is coming back to the airwaves on September 15, 2008. However, series producers told SCI FI Wire that the spin-off series Heroes: Origins is officially dead.

Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment stated "We consciously chose to rest [Heroes] this spring so that [creator] Tim Kring and his team could get ahead of the creative and build up to a massive event--a three-hour Heroes night. On Monday, Sept. 15, we'll kick off with a Heroes clip show to try to bring back the audience and [then air] a massive two-hour Heroes film."

So why was the highly anticipated Heroes: Origins scrapped?

"We were taxing our creative team to do too much around that," Silverman said. "We wanted 35 Heroes [episodes] and 12 Heroes: Origins, each of which was supposed to be a mini-movie and backdoor pilot. We reached far and challenged our people, and we decided it was better to focus on keeping the Heroes mothership as strong as possible."

Before being cancelled, Heroes: Origins had already lined up numerous writers and directors, including Kevin Smith, Eli Roth and Michael Dougherty.

Heroes airs Monday nights at 9:00 p.m. ET on NBC.