On September 24, 2015, the highly anticipated, sci-fi, mini-series, Heroes Reborn, premiered on NBC. The thirteen episode reboot is a continuation of the series, Heroes, which ended in 2010. Avid fans have waited a long five years for this two hour premiere episode.

The program, which was created by the same creator of Heroes, Tim Kring, stars many new actors including Zachary Levi (Luke Collins), Ryan Guzman (Carlos Gutierrez), Robbie Kay (Tommy Clarke), and Kiki Sukezane (Miko Otomo). However, Jack Coleman (Noah Bennet) reprises his role from the original series and is a series regular. Other original actors such as Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura), Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman), Cristine Rose (Angela Petrelli), and Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder Suresh) will also reprise their roles but will not be in every episode. Fan favorites Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli), and Zachary Quinto (Sylar) will not be returning.

In the original series, the world did not know people with special abilities (also known as evolved humans or EVO’s) existed until Claire Bennet revealed her superpower in the series finale. The new series focuses on the world once everyone is aware of people with special powers. 

The show picks up five years from where it left off. Some of the characters are EVO’s (with powers viewers have not seen in the original series) while other characters are ordinary humans who are either  helping the EVO’s or working against them. One conflict involves an explosion in Odessa, Texas that killed thousands of people. The EVO’s are blamed for this explosion, which leads to discrimination. Meanwhile, there is controversy involving the renowned company, Renautas, which some believe to be a revival of Primatech (an organization disguised as a paper company that captures EVO’s for research) under a different name. The characters have their own troubles, as well. Characters are discovering who they are, running from non-EVO’s, trying to find missing pieces of their past, and attempting to save missing family members. This episode is the beginning of the characters’ journeys, and with these problems present, there will be bumps in the road. Will any of these problems be solved by the end of the season?

There are many similarities between the old series and the new program. Episodes are still referred to as “chapters” and each character’s story is told separately unless the characters come together in a situation. There is also a lot of diversity since all of the new characters come from different parts of the world. The only major difference between the two series is the characters.

The question on many people’s minds is will the mini-series pull in enough viewers to be renewed as a fulltime series or will it not survive without its fan favorite characters?  Since the focus is on new characters, people who did not watch the original series can watch the show and have a good understanding of the plot, which can increase the number of viewers. Additionally, with its intriguing  storyline, old fans and new fans will not be disappointed. 

Catch Heroes Reborn Thursdays on NBC at 8 pm because the world of Heroes is making a powerful comeback.