heroes tvSome things you never truly expect to come back to television, despite fan outcry. TV shows like Firefly or Buffy the Vampire Slayer (unintended Joss Whedon theme there). But thanks to shows like Family Guy, Futurama, and Arrested Development we’ve learned it is possible. But then it is the ones you never expected, particularly because they never had real fan outcry, that manage to come back and utterly shock you. Heroes, NBC’s 2006 super powered drama (I don’t believe I can call it a superhero drama, despite the title), seems to be on its way back to television some time next year. It doesn’t appear that it will be an on-going TV series this time, but rather a mini-series event that might hold sequels if the new season does better than its last. Called Heroes Reborn, the show is scheduled to release sometime in 2015, over 5 years since the series’ original finale. NBC has yet to state whether or not any of the original characters or actors will return, keeping all details of storylines and characters very under wraps. We do know Tim Kring, the show’s original creator and executive producer will be back…but not much else.

 

 

We received the press release announcing Heroes Reborn just a short while ago, but already first responders to the news are taking to twitter and other social networks with mixed reactions of excitement and non-apathetic apathy. The short teaser above is sure to make most of the stir, as NBC has given us very little beyond this quote from NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke, stating “The enormous impact ‘Heroes’ had on the television landscape when it first launched in 2006 was eye-opening,” said NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke. “Shows with that kind of resonance don’t come around often and we thought it was time for another installment. We’re thrilled that visionary creator Tim Kring was as excited about jumping back into this show as we were and we look forward to all the new textures and layers Tim plans to add to his original concept. Until we get closer to air in 2015, the show will be appropriately shrouded in secrecy, but we won’t rule out the possibility of some of the show’s original cast members popping back in.”

Surprisingly, Heroes is one of the better-selling TV series on DVD of all time, with more than 10 million units sold, but part of that might be due to the constant sales the DVD collections have had since the show’s cancellation. I can certainly say its Netflix presence will, however, become very notable as the show nears its return. Heroes started out with 14 million views per episode and held that for the most part through the season 2 premiere. Unfortunately after that it was an ever falling slope downhill until it reached just above 4 million on the season finale. Maybe those that left the series were those that bought the DVD and are all ready to return with the show. I certainly expect a large amount of the fan base to hop back on for Heroes Reborn, including some of the lost fans who are curious and the new fans from streaming services and DVD sales. But will Heroes Reborn make a powerful comeback or will it just fall flat like it ended? Hard to say.