HEROES: REDEMPTION! PREMIER! TONIGHT!

TUNE IN 8:00 TONIGHT! Remember its a two hour premier starting at 8 instead of nine, SO BE THERE!

New Cast Member And New Clips From Episodes 4.01 And 4.02!

Andrew Connolly has joined NBC's drama "Heroes" for a multiepisode arc.

He will play Samuel's (Robert Knepper) older brother.

Samuel, the charismatic but evil Earth-moving ringleader of a traveling carnival who recruits people with special powers for a mysterious purpose, has emerged as a central character to "Heroes' " mythology this coming season.

Connolly's recent credits include a guest spot on ABC's "Lost."

IGN Interviews The Villains

September 18, 2009 -Season 4 of Heroes is welcoming viewers to the carnival in a big way. The new storyline for the series, "Redemption", introduces the Sullivan Brothers Carnival and some major new characters who will impact the lives of those we already know on the series. 

On a scorching hot day last month, I visited the newly built carnival set for Heroes, which has been put together at Universal Studios. The very impressive set was quite immersive and large, with all the rides and attractions you'd find at a carnival – indeed, it seemed like they could begin selling tickets if they wished. 

The carnival is heading up by the charismatic Samuel, played by an actor TV viewers know excels at playing villains - Prison Break's Robert Knepper. For a long time the carnival had been a safe haven for people with abilities, giving them a place they could fit in. But after the death of his brother Joseph, Samuel has a new agenda, which includes reaching out into the greater world – and to those who also have powers – in a much more direct way. 

Robert Knepper as Samuel in Heroes

Sitting in his trailer, and sporting Samuel's black nail polish, Knepper mused about his character and what makes him tick. Said Knepper, "Like any good mastermind and anybody who does have an agenda, they try to make everyone else feel like it's for their sake that we need to make this family whole again. If you pressed a gun to this guy's head, he'd probably still deny it, but on his death bed, he'd probably say, 'Yeah, it was probably self-serving, why I'm wanting to find these heroes.'" 

An early scene for Samuel has him delivering a eulogy for Joseph and Knepper remarked, "I thought, the only way to play this is totally honest. There's been a member of our family that's been assassinated and we have to hunker down now and figure out what to do. What would he want us to do? He keeps putting it on to his brother. And the fact is, in his own mind he's probably thinking, 'What am I going to do? How can I get us, me, into a better position, so we don't have to crawl around the world?" Knepper smiled, as he added, "Why can't we be like those other guys, who have been doing this show for four years? Hey, I want to stand out on the red carpet!" 

As for what Samuel's power is, Knepper explained, "He can move earth. He can fill a pot with earth or he could demolish the entire Universal Studios [lot] if he wanted to right now, especially if you piss him off. You don't want to do that." When I asked Knepper if he'd had the opportunity to film any scenes where his character really got to show off his power, he nodded and replied, "I sunk a house!" 

When it comes to Samuel's appearance and style, Knepper brought up the cliché idea of the top hat wearing carnival barker who yells, "Step right up!" and remarked, "We don't want to do that. We talked about the idea of Keith Richards and sort of a rock and roll kind of thing to it. They're misfits, but cool misfits." Knepper added that with Samuel it was important that, "You weren't quite where he was from in the world. It added to the unconventional nature of him and the timelessness." 

Dawn Olivieri as Lydia

An important part of Samuel's plans involve Lydia, the carnival's tattooed lady. Played byDawn Olivieri, Lydia's tattoos have much bigger significance than one would think at a glance. Explained Olivieri, "She is an oracle; an empath of sorts. She can tell the future. She can feel other states of being – their place, and where they're located even. So she's got all sorts of little things that she's able to do. It's not only having to do with the tattoos and the faces and the things that come up in the ink. She's got all kinds of neat little things she can do." 

Olivieri noted that when she uses her powers, her tattoos move and images come up. "Samuel makes this special ink, puts it in the skin, and then my body decides what to show him. It shows him what he needs. Not what he asks for necessarily, but what he needs to see." 

As for what Lydia and Samuel's relationship is like, Olivieri remarked, "It's an interesting one, because no one really is sure. I think, when he was alive, I shared a fatherly connection with Samuel's brother, Joseph. He wasn't my real father, but he was a mentor and he took me under his wing and now with him gone, Samuel has taken his throne – and maybe taken an inappropriate direction with me. So now you've got this weird uncle character with me, and it's not necessarily sexual, but it's definitely inappropriate. It's a weird dynamic with the two of us." 

So is Lydia a villain? Said Olivieri, "I think she's guilty by association. I think inherently she's a good person, but I also think that if you're involved with a group and they're predominantly good to begin with, and then they take a different way and you're still involved… Then you come to a point, where I think she's at, where you have to make a decision on whether you're going to continue on that pathway or decide to break away. I think it's an internal battle she's working with." 

Another integral member of the carnival is Edgar, played by a genre icon – Ray Park, who has played everyone from Star Wars's Darth Maul, to X-Men's Toad, to G.I. Joe's Snake Eyes. Describing his character, Park told me, "He has quite an important role in the carnival and how things get done – the requests from Samuel. I'm sent out there to do a couple of jobs. Things I'm not happy about, but at the same time, we've been hiding for so long, that we just want to have peace. Especially my character." 

As for Edgar's ability, Park noted, "He likes what he does. He's got the ability of speed and he's a knife thrower and that's his way of getting a release in the carnival – is using the ability, but not too much. Just a little bit. It's enough for him to get a kick out of it and still work on his skills. All the guys in the carnival have special powers and the carnival is like a cover for them to be able to move through the night. I'm playing like the hitman - the guy who's sent out and gets the job done. But I'm not always happy about some of the things, especially in the beginning." 

When it came to working with Knepper, Park said, "It was intimidating at first, because I'm a big fan of his. And also of Zachary [Quinto], Milo [Ventimiglia]… Everyone on the show. To get to work with everyone is a buzz for me. And also, I step back and watch how everyone works. I still have a lot to learn and it's great that every day I learn something new and my confidence builds. Being on the show has really helped for me to sort of showcase what I can do." 

Click above to watch Ray Park's Edgar take on Peter Petrelli in Heroes

In the season premiere, Edgar faces off with Peter Petrelli (played by Ventimigila), and Park said it was a lot of fun to film that scene. "I love Milo. I call it our dancing scene," Park said. "We like to dance. The two of us get to sort of show what we can do with our abilities. I think it will be good for the fans to see." 

Referring to the scenes where Edgar throws knives, Park laughed, noting, "I make my own sound effects. Today I'm throwing my knives and I'm going, '[Park makes the Fft sound we all associate with a knife being thrown]' So not only do I do the action, but I bring my own sound effects for whatever weapon I'm using! It's just habit for me because of being a kid and making the sounds." I recalled Ewan McGregor saying he found it hard not to make the lightsaber sounds while shooting The Phantom Menace, and Park nodded, saying, "He did that a lot! He was always doing that." Later in the day, I watched as Park filmed a scene with Zachary Quinto, and indeed, Park amusingly made the sound FX every time he did a take of Edgar throwing his knives. 

While one actor joining a series that's long underway might lead to some adjustment time, Knepper, Olivieri and Park are all coming into Heroes together, and with an entire storyline and scenario created around their characters. Said Olivieri, "It's fun. We're joining the show, but it's almost like it's the first season of our own show, because we've come as this group, all together. Maybe if I was the only one, I'd feel, 'Oh god, I'm coming in on this family,' but we represent this whole new storyline that's going to take the show back to where it was the first season. So it's exciting for us, because we get a chance to help the show and add color and aesthetics and beauty and fun. I'm happy. I think it's exciting." 

Knepper, Olivieri and Ray Park

When I asked Park if he felt the same way, he replied, "Definitely, because a lot of stuff we've done, the establishing scenes that we've shot, have been together. We've always been together with our characters going out into the world and interacting with the other cast members. Dawn's lovely. It's just nice to hang out. Sometimes I keep my mouth closed [with her and Robert], because I get intimidated. When I'm comfortable, I'm able to joke around a little bit. I'm still learning. I'm still seeing how things go. I've never done TV before!" 

Expanding upon how Season 4 is reminiscent of the first season of Heroes, Olivieri explained, "I think they've really focused more on the characters again. In the first season, it was so fresh and so new, and it was just about that simple fact that there are these people with these talents. I love the idea that while all of this was happening – the first season, second season, third season – we were existing on our own, the entire time that was going on." 

Clips from Season 4 show Hiro encountering Samuel and the carnival, and Samuel having some potential words of wisdom for Mr. Nakamura. Referring to this and other interactions between Samuel and the Heroes characters, Knepper noted, "He's a devil figure, but what he's actually saying to Hiro is what Hiro should hear. He should look in the mirror and go, 'What are you so worried about? Just because you change one little thing in the past, it's not going to unravel everything in your life.' The same thing [with what he tells] Peter and now Sylar. He's not all evil. He has self-serving intentions, but the message that he's also trying to get across to these guys is, 'I can be your mirror. I can help you realize something. We can change. We can find redemption.' - Which is the big thing in this volume… except that it's being told by a dictator in the making." 

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NEW HQ CLIPS, POMOS, AND BEHIND THE SCENES INTERVIEWS FROM REDEMPTION!!!

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All Episode Titles!

VOLUME 5: REDEMPTION

Orientation

Jump, Push, and Fall

Ink

Acceptance

Hysterical Blindness

Tabula Rasa

Strange Attractors

Once Upon a Time In Texas

Shadowboxing

Brother's Keeper

Thanksgiving

Family Ties

Alliance

The Day The Earth Turned Red PT, 1: Turning Point

The Day The Earth Turned Red PT, 2: Red Flare 

The Day The Earth Turned Red PT, 3: Risen From The Ashes

The Day The Earth Turned Red PT 4: Face-Off

The Day The Earth Turned Red PT, 5: The Price Of Salvation