James Kyson Lee, who plays the newly superpowered Ando on NBC's Heroes, told SCI FI Wire that viewers can expect to see more of him as the current season wraps.
Aside from the final act of last week's episode, we haven't seen Hiro (Masi Oka) and Ando on Heroes for several weeks. Recent episodes dealt with Matt (Greg Grunberg), Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) and Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) interrogating Noah Bennett (Jack Coleman) and Claire (Hayden Panettiere) helping her former puppet-master tormenter escape. When the boys returned from India, they followed Rebel's message to Matt Parkman, but it turned out to be baby Matt, not grown-up Matt.
Lee spoke with us by phone last week to preview the remainder of the season. This season, Ando received a power of his own, the ability to supercharge other powers. The show also welcomed back writer Bryan Fuller, and NBC announced its pickup for a fourth season. The following Q&A features edited excerpts of our interview. Heroes returns with new episodes on March 23 at 9 p.m.
Will we see Hiro and Ando babysitting for a few episodes?
Lee: Well, I already had to babysit my buddy when he was a 10-year-old. I had some warmup experience. I wouldn't say babysit, but think of more adventures with a new partner, a new friend. I think when we come back, episode 20 is going to be a very big, very fun episode. There's a lot happening in that episode when we come back on the 23rd. Greg Yaitanes directed that one, and he's always been one of the fan favorites. Oh, and you're going to get to see Ando learn a new trick with his mojo, so that should be fun.
Yeah, what opportunities will he have to supercharge other powers?
Lee: Right now, we know that it can supercharge other people's abilities, but if you remember the very first episode of [volume three] "Villains," we got a glimpse into an alternate future where you saw Ando blast away my buddy with this sort of electric red lightning type of blast. So there's a lot more to this power than what's been revealed, and I think when we come back, you'll see one more new dimension to that ability.
So even though they prevented that future, you're going to call back to that power?
Lee: Well, I don't want to give away too much, but you'll be able to see if and how that could possibly happen. I'm not saying that that scene that we saw was going to happen at all, but in terms of seeing the ability evolve, you are definitely going to see that. I'll tell you, he'll be more than a supercharger. He'll be a lot more.
How much work do you do with an actual baby?
Lee: A lot. The industry norm is that you always work with twins. Then we had a prop baby, who our incredible special-effects prop department put together. I think that alone cost about seven grand. It was a very fragile; we had to be really careful with it.
Could baby Matt take after his dad?
Lee: Maybe, and you're definitely going to find out more about that on the episode on the 23rd. Yeah, don't be surprised. Now I wouldn't say the baby's reading other people's minds. I mean, he can barely talk, but maybe there's something else in store.
How has it felt to read Bryan Fuller scripts again?
Lee: Oh, so good. Let me tell you something, man. He's a special guy. I love, love, love having him back. He was part of the magic for season one. I was so happy for him for Pushing Daisies, and I loved the show. I thought it was so creative and wonderful. Now that he's back with us, oh, so great, so great. I hope all of us will be together for the entire run of the show. ...
Can you give us a sense of what volume five will be?
Lee: Well, I don't know exactly in terms of the direction of the arc of the volume, but you will get a little taste at the season finale. I can say that you will meet a new female baddie. I think Joe [Pokaski] and Aaron [Eli Coleite], our writers, kind of revealed that, gave that little teaser on their blog. You know what it is? The characters that we all came to know from the first season, I think we're sort of going back to the reality of their lives, meaning these are characters that actually live and they have to go back to their personal lives and whatnot, and the consequences of that after going through such an odd, supernatural series of events.
Credit goes to: link
Aside from the final act of last week's episode, we haven't seen Hiro (Masi Oka) and Ando on Heroes for several weeks. Recent episodes dealt with Matt (Greg Grunberg), Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) and Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) interrogating Noah Bennett (Jack Coleman) and Claire (Hayden Panettiere) helping her former puppet-master tormenter escape. When the boys returned from India, they followed Rebel's message to Matt Parkman, but it turned out to be baby Matt, not grown-up Matt.
Lee spoke with us by phone last week to preview the remainder of the season. This season, Ando received a power of his own, the ability to supercharge other powers. The show also welcomed back writer Bryan Fuller, and NBC announced its pickup for a fourth season. The following Q&A features edited excerpts of our interview. Heroes returns with new episodes on March 23 at 9 p.m.
Will we see Hiro and Ando babysitting for a few episodes?
Lee: Well, I already had to babysit my buddy when he was a 10-year-old. I had some warmup experience. I wouldn't say babysit, but think of more adventures with a new partner, a new friend. I think when we come back, episode 20 is going to be a very big, very fun episode. There's a lot happening in that episode when we come back on the 23rd. Greg Yaitanes directed that one, and he's always been one of the fan favorites. Oh, and you're going to get to see Ando learn a new trick with his mojo, so that should be fun.
Yeah, what opportunities will he have to supercharge other powers?
Lee: Right now, we know that it can supercharge other people's abilities, but if you remember the very first episode of [volume three] "Villains," we got a glimpse into an alternate future where you saw Ando blast away my buddy with this sort of electric red lightning type of blast. So there's a lot more to this power than what's been revealed, and I think when we come back, you'll see one more new dimension to that ability.
So even though they prevented that future, you're going to call back to that power?
Lee: Well, I don't want to give away too much, but you'll be able to see if and how that could possibly happen. I'm not saying that that scene that we saw was going to happen at all, but in terms of seeing the ability evolve, you are definitely going to see that. I'll tell you, he'll be more than a supercharger. He'll be a lot more.
How much work do you do with an actual baby?
Lee: A lot. The industry norm is that you always work with twins. Then we had a prop baby, who our incredible special-effects prop department put together. I think that alone cost about seven grand. It was a very fragile; we had to be really careful with it.
Could baby Matt take after his dad?
Lee: Maybe, and you're definitely going to find out more about that on the episode on the 23rd. Yeah, don't be surprised. Now I wouldn't say the baby's reading other people's minds. I mean, he can barely talk, but maybe there's something else in store.
How has it felt to read Bryan Fuller scripts again?
Lee: Oh, so good. Let me tell you something, man. He's a special guy. I love, love, love having him back. He was part of the magic for season one. I was so happy for him for Pushing Daisies, and I loved the show. I thought it was so creative and wonderful. Now that he's back with us, oh, so great, so great. I hope all of us will be together for the entire run of the show. ...
Can you give us a sense of what volume five will be?
Lee: Well, I don't know exactly in terms of the direction of the arc of the volume, but you will get a little taste at the season finale. I can say that you will meet a new female baddie. I think Joe [Pokaski] and Aaron [Eli Coleite], our writers, kind of revealed that, gave that little teaser on their blog. You know what it is? The characters that we all came to know from the first season, I think we're sort of going back to the reality of their lives, meaning these are characters that actually live and they have to go back to their personal lives and whatnot, and the consequences of that after going through such an odd, supernatural series of events.
Credit goes to: link
