Guest Stars News

The Heroes spoilers are out of the bag: Nichelle Nichols will be playing a significant role in season two of our favorite series.

This former Star Trek star recently talked about her role.

"My character's name is Nana and it takes place in New Orleans. She's from New Orleans and this is right after Katrina," Nichols said.

Reportedly, the character has a connection to known Heroes from last season and new ones appearing in the next few weeks, as she reveals: "[I'm] the grandmother of a character in the show named Monica."

We know Monica is one of the new roles in season two and will be played by Dana Davis.

She's described as an avenger out to bring justice to the corrupt city of New Orleans. Connecting Monica, and Nichols' character, to last year is Micah. Nichelle said:

"Monica and her little brother are cousins to Micah, and Micah goes to live with them... "I am Micah's Great Aunt."

Heroes fans are still expressing shocked glee over the fact that Kristin Bell is coming to the show.

It's true, though. And Michael Ausiello of TV Guide just sat down with the former Veronica Mars actress to discuss how it all came about it...

TV Guide: Congrats on the Heroes gig! Is this some kind of evil plot of yours to send fanboys over the edge?
Kristen Bell: Absolutely. It is all part of my plan for world domination – and by world, I mean Fanboy World.

TV Guide: How did the gig come about? It's no secret that you've been fielding many offers, including from Lost.
Bell: Obviously, I was in an extremely lucky position. I've kind of felt like I've been on a sugar high the last couple of weeks. Having any of those options… it still feels surreal. How do you make the decision between [Lost and Heroes]? Basically, being able to stay in [Los Angeles] was a little bit of a factor for me [in terms of turning down Lost]. But I was honored to even be considered by Lost. I really, really was, because I love that show. But I have social relationships with a lot of the people that work on Heroes, through so many random connections.

So it was sort of funny that so many of my friends had been working on this show. I spent a lot of time with a few of them at Comic-Con. I was actually sitting on the train [back from San Diego] with Zachary Quinto and Masi Oka and some of the writers were on the train and they were like, "Hey, if you ever want to come on Heroes, give us a call!" And I sort of joked back, "I'd love that!" Later on I said to Zach, "Hey, if they were serious, I would love to work with you guys." And somehow, somebody made it happen.

TV Guide: Wait a second – you ride the train?!
Bell: (Laughs) Yeah, coming back from Comic-Con; none of us drove because the traffic was so bad. So we just took the three-hour train ride back.

TV Guide: Weren't you mobbed by fans?
Bell: No way! Are you kidding me? No one recognizes me.

TV Guide: Was part of the appeal of doing Heroes the fact that it's a limited gig, thus allowing you to keep your career options open?
Bell: That's certainly not a bad point. I am kind of in the luckiest position possible, because they're allowing me to leave it open-ended. So, yeah, that was extremely appealing. Also, everyone I know that is involved in Heroes has had nothing but excellent things to say about what it's like to work there or for Tim Kring and Co. I received a phone call before I even knew that the deal was done from Tim and a few of his partners in crime and, I should probably keep this confidential, but it might've been the nicest phone call I've ever gotten. I think there was almost a point where I fell out of my chair.

TV Guide: How many episodes are you committed for?
Bell: I think I'm doing 13 as of now.

TV Guide: Would you be open to sticking around longer?
Bell: I think I might be. I'm kind of excited to go into this family, because doing a new show always feels a little like switching schools; it's exciting but it's also really nerve-wracking. But this feels like I'm transferring to a school that all of my friends already go to.

Continue Reading...

Of all the guest stars or new regulars added to the Heroes season two cast - from Dianna Agron to David Anders - it's hard to imagine any garnering more excitement than this one:

Veronica Mars star Kristen Bell is coming aboard.

NBC has snagged Bell for a key multiepisode arc of Heroes. This is a major casting coup for the show, as the actress was being sought after by multiple other programs, including ABC's Lost.

Bell is likely to become even more well-known and popular, too, as her next gig is playing the lead role in Judd Apatow's upcoming Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

The actress will make her first Heroes appearance in October. She'll play Elle, a character described as a sexy, mysterious young lady who has ties to the supposed death of Peter, Mr. Bennet's past and the future of Claire. Those are a lot of connections for one character to possess.

Variety reports that Elle will kick off her arc by committing a serious crime, though it's unclear whether she's good or bad.

"This was not easy to pull off," said Heroes creator-exec producer Tim Kring. "But since we're an ensemble show, with many arcs playing out through the year, we found a way to jump into a small window in (Bell's) schedule."

Universal Media Studios prexy Katherine Pope also hinted that landing Bell wasn't easy, noting that "many studios (were) chasing her in both film and TV" and that she was happy that Bell "chose to star in our show."

Perhaps we should add Bell to our latest Heroes poll, huh? She'd win in a landslide.

We have some news on the role Nichelle Nichols will be playing on the second season of Heroes:

The former Star Trek actress will show up in the fourth episode. She' be portraying Nana, a New Orleans doyenne whose daughter died during Hurricane Katrina.

"Nana is tough and undaunted and - like the blues - she just keeps rising to the occasion," Nichols said.

The character is in dire financial straits and has moved back into her once-flooded home, where she cares for her two grandchildren. One of them is new hero Monica (Dana Davis). This new star is an avenging angel intent on bringing justice to the corruption-plagued Big Easy.

Nana is also a great-aunt to Micah, the junior hero played by series regular Noah Gray-Cabey.

"Micah is sent to New Orleans to live with the family," Nichols said. "It's a quite marvelous, magical story, with wonderful things emerging."

Does Nana have a superpower?

"Well, that remains to be seen, now doesn't it?" teased Nichols.

Say this about the growing number of new cast members and guest stars on Heroes: it's an eclectic bunch.

There's a former Alias star who is now a series regular: David Anders.

There's a Star Trek veteran of the big screen coming aboard for a few episodes: Nichelle Nichols.

And now there's Janel Parrish, an actress from the recent Bratz: The Movie who will play May, the head cheerleader at Claire's new school.

In addition to playing one of the leads in Bratz, which opened to an underwhelming $4.2 million at the box office two weekends ago, Parrish wrote and recorded a song for the film's soundtrack.

Maybe she can team up with Hayden Panettiere - another occasional singer - for a song-and-dance number on Heroes.

The connections between Star Trek and Heroes continue.

Zachary Quinto, of course, is joining the next installment of this movie franchise - and in new casting news, it's been announced that another member of the original series is coming to Heroes for a bit.

Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) will be joining her Star Trek cast mate George Takei (Hikaru Sulu) on the NBC hit show next season.

According to reports, Nichols will have a recurring role on the show, appearing in five or six episodes.

Her addition was already hinted at recently by Heroes creator Tim Kring, when he told E! Online he was looking "for another face that will have a very similar impact" to genre fans as the casting of Takei did.

Heroes was the most successful drama series on NBC last year. Halfway through the first season, Takei joined the show as Kaito Nakamura, the father of a young Japanese Star Trek fan who can move through time and space using only his will.

Last month, word already leaked out that former Star Trek: Enterprise star Dominic Keating (Malcolm Reed) will be playing an Irish mobster during several episodes of the show's second season.

Another day, another new actor on Heroes.

Dana Davis has joined our favorite showas a regular, playing a new hot young hero whose powers are not yet known. Her name, though, is Monica.

Davis joins Dania Ramirez, who plays another beautiful young hero named Maya, as an addition to the cast. Also new in season two will be Nick D'Agosto, Barry Shabaka Henley, Holt McCallany, David Anders, Eriko Tamura, Lyndsy Fonseca and Dianna Agron.

This past season, Davis co-starred on ABC's critically praised The Nine and the CW's Hidden Palms.

Dominic Keating, possibly best know for his role as Lt. Malcolm Reed on the final Star Trek spinoff, has been added to the second season cast of Heroes.

He joins a slew of other new actors, led by Dianna Agron, the actress seen as various minor characters on Veronica Mars.

Keating will play a super-powered Irish mobster, while Agron will join Hayden Panettiere in the role of mysterious cheerleaders. We wonder what will happen if Peter Petrelli saves TWO cheerleaders? Does he save two worlds?

Other recent additions to the series include David Anders (Sark on Alias), Nick D'Agosto, Shalim Ortiz and Dania Ramirez (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, X-Men 3).

Heroes producers have been very secretive with details as to what powers each character will have. But we'll be sure to let you know more when we do.

Gosh, will the original cast of Heroes even have screen time next season?

Yet another actor has been hired to join our favorite show: Shalim Ortiz will be joining the cast as an illegal immigrant trying to make it to the USA to be with his sister, played by Dania Ramirez. There's no word yet on super powers for either character, nor how prominent their parts will be.

Early in Heroes first season, Buddy TV reports, creator Tim Kring told various news outlets that he was intending to start each new season with a new set of Heroes involved in their own adventure. Somewhere along the way, he back peddled and said that instead he was going to stick with the current group, which would be no problem for fans of the series of course.

While we have no idea how strong of a role any of these newbies will play, we also don't know for certain who survived the season one finale.

Kring told a group of journalists at the kickoff for the world tour that just because an actor was touring in support of the show did not mean their character survives. The tour, after all, is being conducted to promote the international release of Heroes season one, not season two.