Heroes Hits the Road

Wed., Aug. 22, 2007 7:26 AM PDT by Gina Serpe

It's time for the Heroes to see the world they labored so long to save.

A dozen major Heroes castmembers are set to embark on a previously announced seven-city world tour this weekend. The photo-op-friendly global tour coincides with (a) the DVD release of the NBC series' Emmy-nominated first season and (b) the show's debut in international territories and is also meant to ratchet up the buzz on the sci-fi hit's new season.

The Heroes World Tour will include stops in Europe, Asia and North America, with the cast dividing and conquering the globe in groups of four apiece.

"The Brady Bunch went to the Grand Canyon, so this is pretty cool for us," Greg Grunberg said at a press conference last Thursday.

"The message of Heroes has always been about our world being a completely interconnected place, and this world tour is a celebration of that spirit," series creator Tim Kring said. "We're all very excited to embark on this adventure next week and eager to hear from fans everywhere."

Jack Coleman, Hayden Panettiere, Adrian Pasdar and Milo Ventimiglia, along with executive producer Dennis Hammer, will hit up Munich Aug. 26-27, Paris Aug. 28-29 and London Aug. 30 through Sept. 2.

While they're launching their marketing initiative on an unsuspecting Europe, Grunberg, Ali Larter, Masi Oka and Sendhil Ramamurthy will be front the promotional bonanza's Asia leg, appearing in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore on the same dates, while Noah Grey-Cabey, James Kyson Lee, Zachary Quinto and newcomer Dania Ramirez, accompanied by coexecutive producer Jeph Loeb and graphic-novel artist Tim Sale, will be sticking closer to home with stops in New York City and Toronto.

In addition to gracing the respective cities with their heroic presence, the cast will be making personal appearances, engaging in meet-and-greets with fans, making TV appearances, attending—and, no doubt, causing—local media events and visiting various iconic landmarks along their tour.

In Tokyo on Aug. 27, Grunberg, Larter, Oka and Ramamurthy will be hosting a movie-like red carpet premiere of their show, while in New York, Quinto & Co. will be appearing the following day at an in-store DVD signing at the NBC Experience Store.

NBC is touting the worldwide rendezvous as a carbon-neutral tour and has already announced plans to offset the hefty emissions the round-the-globe plane rides will cause by aiming to plant 188 trees in a Texas wildlife refuge to offset their carbon footprint. The tour is also donating green to the green cause, with 10 percent of the proceeds from merchandise sold at the Aug. 28 NYC signing to The Conservation Fund.

For fans who haven't quite racked up the frequent-flier miles required to follow their Heroes abroad but who still wish to keep abreast of their every promotional movement, the entire tour, sponsored by Nissan, will be chronicled on NBC's Website, with daily postings on the cast's whereabouts and exclusive video of their adventures.

The Emmy-nominated series kicked off production on its second season last week. The season premiere airs Sept. 24. The season one DVD is set for release Aug. 28.