The World May Finally Be Ready for More Heroes
Save the cheerleader, save the world.
They say that solar eclipses bring new beginnings, and in 2006, that was the premise of the NBC sci-fi drama Heroes, which followed the story of a vast cast of characters who find they have gained superpowers after an eclipse. Now, only a few days after a real-life solar eclipse, Heroes is getting another shot at life with a reboot of the series from original creator Tim Kring. But after four seasons, a failed follow-up, and a long hiatus, is the world finally ready for a show like Heroes?
According to Deadline, Kring has started to pitch the reboot, aptly titled Heroes: Eclipsed, to buyers. The series would pick up years later with a group of new evos — the term for “evolved humans,” the newfound superheroes — as they encounter enemies both familiar and new.
The original cast of Heroes starred a large ensemble including Milo Ventimiglia, Zachary Quinto, and Hayden Panettiere.
Heroes has always been controversial. The first season was almost universally praised, but after the 2007 writer’s strike torpedoed Season 2, the story never found its footing again. A decade later, the 2015 reboot miniseries, Heroes: Reborn, was met with confusion.
But the world Heroes: Eclipsed would enter is totally different from the one in 2006 or 2015. After the MCU reached a climax with Avengers: Endgame, it was very clear that superhero stories dominated pop culture, and that wasn’t just contained within the comic book worlds of DC and Marvel. Shows like Invincible, The Boys, and The Umbrella Academy all managed to tell superhero stories within their own separate universes, something that hadn’t really been done in years past — outside of Heroes.
Heroes: Reborn brought back many characters but still didn’t manage to win over audiences.
Heroes isn’t just a series that declined in quality over time, it’s a series that tried to cater itself to a world that wasn’t ready. It aired in the heyday of Lost and was often doomed by comparison. But with the influence of Marvel shows, The Boys’ fledgling universe, and a growing love of a gritty, realist superhero story, the world may finally be ready for Heroes.
Sometimes, a TV show manages to be the right story and the wrong time. Just as everyone started watching Suits in 2023 or revisit Gilmore Girls every fall, streaming has the ability to give shows a second life. There’s no better way to kick-start this effect for Heroes than with a follow-up that can really lean into the elements of the original series that the world wasn’t ready for.
