Question: The Heroes finale was awesome, but I’m a little worried about Peter and Nathan. Please tell me they are coming back next year.— Renee

Ausiello: (Major spoiler alert) They’ll both be back next season.

Adrian Pasdar of Heroes

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Adrian Pasdar, Heroes Interview

By Kyle Braun

“But if and when it’s time for me to go I’ll be just happy to be part of a terrific season of TV.”

Since Adrian Pasdar’s start in the industry came at the age of 19 when he landed a role in Top Gun, the versatile actor has been climbing his way to the top of Hollywood. After a series of feature film roles, ranging from Near Dark to Carlito’s Way, Pasdar finally landed a leading role in the cult TV series Profit. Profit was dark, it was mysterious, and it focused on Adrian’s stellar performance as the villainous Jim Profit. While those elements all make for great television, it quickly meant the end of the series as audiences weren’t ready for the kind of dark thriller Profit delivered on a weekly basis. Pasdar soon bounced back, landing the part of Declan Dunn in Mysterious Ways and ADA David McClaren on Judging Amy, as well as the role of David Bradley on Desperate Housewives. However, with his role as Nathan Petrelli on Heroes, Adrian Pasdar is quickly becoming a household name with a younger generation of fans.

Nathan Petrelli could be your ordinary, everyday kind of guy. Petrelli works for the District Attorney’s office, has a wife named Heidi and a younger brother named Peter. One of Nathan’s darker secrets is that aside from his two sons, Petrelli also has an illegitimate daughter by the name of Claire Bennet [Hayden Panettiere]. That’s precisely the kind of secret that could come up in a political race for a post in the New York Congress. But that’s not the only secret Nathan Petrelli has to hide. Unlike most politicians, Nathan Petrelli can fly, and not just on expensive private jets. He can fly out of cars that are about to crash, up to meet his brother as he attempts suicide, or almost anywhere else. However, what makes Nathan even more interesting is that he wants to focus on politics, and not on the fact he can outfly Superman if he wanted to.

Given Nathan Petrelli’s political aspirations, in a recent conference call Adrian Pasdar admitted that he draws inspiration from a number of sources. “I think it’s kind of a conglomerate. I’ve taken the best and the worst of politicians that have come across me in my personal life,” Pasdar said. “We haven’t defined whether Nathan is Republican or Democrat. I’m sure an argument can be made for the earlier in many, many ways,” Adrian admits, but that doesn’t mean he can’t have a little fun. “The most morally liquid characters that I have run across, I’ve based this guy on.

“But, as Adrian tackles the role of a politician, don’t expect him to become too entangled in politics himself. “I did a little show called Profit a while back and I based some of the work on some people that were in office at the time. And I received some stationery from the White House. George Stephanopoulos wrote me a letter on White House stationery. And I was so impressed and blown away to have received something from the White House seal and things like that. It was really impressive to me. It’s really not a stretch to imagine an actor getting involved in being a figurehead for a political party for a certain party or so. But for myself personally, I’m involved in New York in terms of the High Line and getting things going around here, but nothing grand on any scope.”

As for the question of family, as Pasdar elaborates, Nathan Petrelli has a lot to consider, with his deceased father, illegitimate daughter, and a super-powerful younger brother. “You know, I think that family has played such a big part in the landscape that has been defined by Heroes, it is really a family oriented struggle on so many fronts. When I discovered that Claire was my daughter, there is a certain pragmatic approach to understanding what needs to be done, and then there is probably a less than pragmatic approach about trying to figure out how she is going to fit into the future of his life. As an alpha male who is so aggressive in terms of succeeding politically and professionally, it all hearkens back to trying to appease and win the approval of your parents.” Just to tease the second season of Heroes, and the family storylines taking place on the show, Adrian revealed, “I think there are some very interesting decisions that are going to come up towards the very second half of the beginning of season two that are going to answer - of course answer a lot of questions, but at the same time in the nature of this show open up a lot of other questions as well.”

One more teaser was dropped our way when Adrian let slip, “We may possibly learn more about the identity of the Petrelli dad in this family.”On the topic of Season Two teasers, as well as Season One finale tidbits, Adrian Pasdar had a couple more to unload as the series expands its fan base, “Questions do get resolved in a huge way. I have a big part in the final decision making in the last few moments of the finale, which all those questions that are posited in the pilot are answered almost to a ‘T’ in the finale. It’s a beautifully structured finale.” As he elaborated on his own feelings, Pasdar himself was impressed with the final product. “I got an opportunity to see the final bits and it’s just mind blowing. It’s stunning the way it’s all put together.”

As for where Nathan Petrelli might wind up in Season Two, Pasdar admitted, “I think you’re going to find it’s a completely unexpected place you think that Nathan might end up after the choices that he makes at the end of the very last three minutes of the finale that have a lead to the story as to what’s going to happen to him in Season 2. That’s again, I’m combining you know, hypothesizing with a combining of a little bit of information that I do have.

“For the Heroes fanatics that may be freaked out about what Season Two might do different than the first, fear not, as Pasdar bridges a gap between the two, “The very end of the finale is where season two will pick up. And it shows you a good three minutes, or two minutes or so of where that is going to pick up. I don’t think anybody is going to guess where. In a very, very interesting place.” The only question still lingering is whether Nathan Petrelli will live to see next season. “I hope to be there. I think I’ll be there. But, you know, like I said earlier, somebody asked me this question. I signed on to do Heroes and I wound up being on Survivor. So I’m just trying to - I’d like to stick around. But if and when it’s time for me to go I’ll be just happy to be part of a terrific season of TV.”

There’s a wall in Heroes HQ dotted with photos of dead characters (Isaac, Simone, Eden…) under a banner that reads ”In loving memory.” Expect a face or two to be added soon. ”I thought I was signing up for a show called Heroes,” says Adrian Pasdar, whose morally shaky politico Nathan Petrelli will make a choice in the finale that will affect the destinies of every character on the show. ”I didn’t know I was going to wind up on Survivor.”