TVSquad

Cool news for fans of NBC's Heroes: it looks like the show is going to start filming a lot earlier than it usually does.

Shows usually start filming in July/August for the fall season, but according to Heroes star James Kyson Lee (Ando), the writers strike means that the show will start filming in June, and maybe as early as May. He says that NBC plans to really push the show this year, using the Olympics to hype the show.

That's the good news. The (possible) bad news is that TV Guide's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Kristen Bell isn't signed for the new season yet.

James Kyson Lee has a job plenty of people would love to claim: starring on NBC's Heroes, one of the best shows of this season, and currently riding a wave of both critical and fan-based praise. However, if you'd asked him a few months ago if he thought he'd be where he is now, he wouldn't have been able to tell you. Unless he'd been able to peek at a painting or two by Isaac Mendez.

Although Lee started out playing sidekick Ando to Masi Oka's Hiro, he's definitely come a long way since then. He's gone from cubicle neighbor, to reluctant participant, to butt-kicking undercover security guard guy, all in the space of one season. He's also get even tougher before this season is over. It could be argued that of all the characters on the show, Lee has undergone the biggest change, that is if you don't count Future Hiro.

A group of us caught up with Lee during our visit to the set of Heroes, and they let us interview him in Isaac's New York artist's loft. Surrounded by piles of comic books and Isaac's paintings, he filled us in on what's been happening with Ando, what will happen in the future, and where his own career is going.

Warning! There be some mild spoilers ahead. Proceed at your own risk, because Hiro ain't here to turn back time. Plus you can click the images for larger versions.

TV Squad was invited to visit the set of Heroes last month, and it's just about time for the episode we saw them filming to hit the airwaves. Tonight's episode is the much talked-about Episode 20 'String Theory', where Hiro and Ando have journeyed five years into the future, and encounter "Super Hiro" -- who is basically normal Hiro with a ponytail, soul patch, Matrix-esque clothes, a flawless English accent, and much more control over his powers. However, something has gone wrong ... right? Because if he had total mastery of those time-bending and teleporting abilities, he could've stopped New York from going boom.

As we saw in the last episode, Hiro and Ando find some sort of mish-mash network of strings, photos, and more in Isaac's old loft, where Future Hiro has clearly set up shop and appears to be working out some problems with the timestream in a sort of A Beautiful Mind fashion. It looks like he's been charting connections between people and events, and I'm sure we'll see more of that. During our visit, we caught up with Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka), Ando (James Kyson Lee), and Kaito Nakamura (Hiro's father, and Trek legend George Takei) while they were filming Episode 21 'The Hard Part', and we got to watch them at work and talk with them about their characters, the show, and what lies ahead.