Q&A: Tim Kring talks 'Heroes' axe

2010 will be remembered as a year in which many cult shows breathed their last, but none had a passing so tragic as Heroes. After a breakout first year, the show suffered creative difficulties and an accompanying ratings decline from which it never managed to recover. We caught up with creator Tim Kring recently to talk about the show's axe, a possible revival and his his new project, the multi-platform adventure Conspiracy For Good.

How would you describe Conspiracy For Good?
"Conspiracy For Good is a secret organisation that has existed for thousands of years. You didn't know it existed and it's finally bubbling to the surface. It rolled out as a multi-platform narrative, starting online and moving into mobile and live events in London this summer. It combines narrative with causes, so that your participation has real-world implications for positive change in the world."

Where did the idea come from? What's your involvement?
"The idea was sort of inspired by my experience on Heroes. The 360 degree platform that we created around that show created a very big online community. Also, we talked a lot about saving the world on Heroes. When I realised that this audience was connected to one another and connected to this theme, I thought it would be great to find a way to harness this online energy and instead of 'saving the world' in fiction, we could have something really happen as a result of people's connection to a narrative. It just seemed like a logical evolution. I became very interested in this idea of 'social benefit storytelling' - by participating, you benefit because you are entertained and engaged, but it has real-world positive implications."

How do you see the project evolving?
"Well, the pilot for Conspiracy of Good was in many ways a unique idea, to launch this. The live events in London are the culmination of it. But this may not be what the ultimate role of Conspiracy For Good is. My feeling is that the project will be more pervasive and less specific to one location. It'll have to tap into mobile applications and social platforms in order to become a truly pervasive idea. The pilot was just one small story in the Conspiracy For Good universe."

When you were finishing up season four of Heroes, how much did you genuinely think it would also be a series finale?
"We really didn't know at all what the fate of the show was. In American television, you usually don't know if you're going to be picked up for another season. Unless you are an absolute smash-hit, which happens so rarely, most shows exist on the bubble all the time. I very much expected to be picked up for a fifth season. I thought it made tremendous sense for the network, both financially and creatively, so I was very surprised by the decision."

When and how did you hear that NBC had cancelled the show?
"We have the upfronts here every May, where the networks roll out their schedules for the year. It's almost always the week or so before that when all the big decisions are made. So during that week, I got the call from the network and heard their decision. As I said, I didn't expect it."

There have been rumours of a wrap-up movie. What's the latest with that?
"Unfortunately, there's no more news on it. But it looks like we're really going to start talking about it now. The summer months in television are always about preparing for the Fall launch of all the new shows, so I totally understand why there hasn't been a lot of discussion [until now]. Once the Fall season is launched, I fully believe that this discussion will get reignited in a very big way."

Looking back at the four seasons, which storylines were you most proud of?
"I was very committed to the idea of how the characters were connected to one another. So for me, the first season, where we didn't know how all the characters connected up, was in some ways the most exciting part of the storytelling. But I also felt that the fourth season was really strong."

There was some speculation that if Heroes came back for a fifth season, it might be 'rebooted' with an entirely new cast. Was that a serious possibility?
"Not really. I think some of that came from certain statements that I had made. In a way, the most exciting aspect of the show is the discovery of these powers and how the characters deal with them. Once the characters are fully in command of their powers, the big questions of the show become plot questions rather than character questions. The way around that for me was to repopulate the show with new people. But I think that was a bit of a naive goal, because the network uses the stars of a hit show to promote itself, which makes it difficult to recast. And obviously if the audience sees too many new faces, they start to long for the ones they fell in love with before. It's a complicated dance, so we decided to stay with the core original cast."

Do you think the writers' strike was ultimately to blame for the show's demise?
"No, I don't want to blame it on that. I think the paradigm has shifted in how people are consuming content and Heroes is very much at the forefront of that. Ironically while the traditional ratings fell, Heroes was the number one downloaded show in the world. It was above other big shows like Lost. So clearly there was a huge appetite for this show. This very passionate and large audience just didn't fit within the traditional mode."

Do you still miss Heroes? Excited about Conspiracy For Good? Leave your comments below!