The creator and new star answer all your questions and even discuss the future of the show

Entering its Second Season there has been a lot of hype surrounding NBC's Heroes. The brainchild of Tim Kring this show has in a very short time developed a loyal and rabid following. With a lot of questions to answer, Kring recently took part in a conference call to discuss the Second Season of this show and where he sees Heroes heading. Also joining Kring was new Heroes cast member Kristen Bell to talk about her character Elle.

Kristen, how did you get on the show?

Kristen Bell: I was a huge fan of the show. I watched it from its premiere episode. I joked with the writers that Heroes was always the water cooler conversation at Veronica Mars on set. They said that Veronica Mars was the water cooler conversation when they were working on Heroes. I certainly put feelers out there during Comic-Con and let them know what a fan I was of the show, with the secret hope that one day I could be a part of it. It was the ultimate flattery for me when Tim said we might have something for you to do.

Tim, was Kristen Bell's character written with her in mind?

Tim Kring: The character was created before we cast Kristen. We'd been talking about the character for a while, thinking about the character for awhile but when you do cast an actor, especially one that you're familiar with their work, and has as much personality as Kristen has you try and tailor the character a little closer to the actor.

Is there a danger that you have too many characters on the show and that you really need to start killing characters?

Tim Kring: Yes, on a show like this you have to be able to fold people in and fold people out. The audience should fully expect to see characters leaving.

Tim could you talk a little bit about the reconstruction that you've done with Matt Parkman's (Greg Grunberg) character?

Tim Kring: We will see the wife again, shortly. There is clearly a mystery as of now, there will be over the next couple of episodes, as for what happened over the intervening 4 months from the end of the Season One to Season Two. Clearly, he went from a man whose wife was pregnant and expecting a baby and living in L.A., to a man who is living in New York and no longer with his wife. Something happened in those months and we will find out about it.

Kristen, the show is one where we don't know where the characters are going. It sounds like you do have a lot of information. Coming from Veronica Mars which was also a mystery show, do you have a way of approaching these characters where you might not know the ultimate point of the arc?

Kristen Bell: Yes, actually that's one thing that on the First Season of Veronica Mars we struggled with a lot; all of the actors. I've come to the conclusion that it's just all about trust. I was lucky that when I was picked for the character Tim let us keep cats out of the bag. Which is exciting, certainly something that I would never repeat. Ultimately, when you're working on a show that's centered around a mystery of such vital importance, you have to trust as an actor that as long as you're asking what details do I need to know? What should I be showing? As far as me being an actor and being able to tell the story adequately and foreshadow and things like that, other than that you've just got to trust your creator and your writers and your director, that if you weren't giving enough and they needed to allude to something they would tell you.

Tim, with the photo of the 12 will we be seeing more of the 5 that we're aware of yet? Have we already met some of them? Are you going to use some of the actors from the photo? Was Joanna Cassidy one of the actors that was standing there?

Tim Kring: Yes, on almost all of those. We will be seeing the people who are in the photo. I think all of them will be the same ones. Which I have to tell you the photo has a life of its own because logistically it was so difficult to actually come up with this photograph, it's used now and refers to things that were shot well into the future, here. It was very difficult to get that all lined up. The photo was as accurate as we could make it. And that did look an awful lot like Joanna Cassidy.

Kristen, it was widely reported that you were offered a recurring role on Lost as well. Why did you choose Heroes?

Kristen Bell: The facts of the situation are that the media might have gotten a little ahead of themselves. I had been spoken to about possibly doing a role on Lost. I was never actually offered one. That certainly would have been a wonderful opportunity but I think I had been such a fan of Heroes from the very beginning that this would have been the dreamiest situation I could have possibly thought up as my next job.

How long can we expect to see you on Heroes? Would you be up for a long term commitment? Or something where you leave and come back?

Kristen Bell: Funny that you ask, I would be up for that. This is has been a great relationship so far, and there was no hesitancy with entering, as far as becoming a main part of the show. From both ends it was just more like lets feel each other out. Lets see how you fit into the show, if you're happy and it's been a great relationship so far. I'll be the one that keeps my fingers crossed that I don't get killed.

Do you have any idea how many episodes you'll be on this season?

Kristen Bell: Right now I think that I'm signed on for 13. Which is certainly to the discretion of how it fits into the major plot lines. They could use me or I could just sit on the sidelines. Quite frankly, I hope they use me because I'm really having a good time. At the end of the 13 we decided to have a pow wow and sit down and see if it makes sense for me to continue.

What characters would you like to see Elle interact with and if you could steal one of their powers which one would it be?

Kristen Bell: Good question, I would like to most interact with, and this is for on and off camera reasons, with Zachary Quinto because he's been a good friend of mine for almost 10 years now. I've always wanted to work with him and besides the fact that he's the coolest thing, he's so unpredictable and downright evil it's almost hard for me to watch because it's the polar opposite of Zach's personality. I would love to see him and Elle face off one day, I think that that would be unbelievable. I don't know about stealing anyone's power but the one power I would like to come up with... I think mine would be multiplicity. I think it would be great to multiply myself and cook myself dinner and I'd just be like, "Hey, clean that up!"

Can you talk about working on Fanboys and Forgetting Sarah Marshall?

Kristen Bell: Two of the best experiences of the last few years of my life. Fanboys because it was a lot of my friends involved in it and that sort of introduced me to the world of fanboys; which I now love and respect so much. Plus a lot of people cameoed from Star Wars like Carrie Fisher and Billy Dee Williams. Certainly to be a part of one of Judd Apatow's movies at this point in his career is a dream come true. Now I'm really happy to call those people my friends. I hope to be one of the people that they... draw upon in the future.

Heroes airs on Monday nights at 9 PM on NBC.

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