Paul Drinkwater/NBCAdrian Pasdar is one of the most shocking people I've ever met in Hollywood. He reads. He thinks. He uses multisyllabic words. He even—brace yourself—seems genuine. And, well, I don't know how much you know about this town, but these character traits are not all that common!
That's one of the reasons I had a ridiculously good time sitting down with Adrian, who plays Heroes' resident politician flyboy Nathan Petrelli for a one-on-one powwow about all things Heroic. The other reason being, of course, is that he is hot...on the trail of some fascinating scoop, like the story behind the Hero who "will be lost," why someone will be singing "We Are Family" and why he trusts the show's innermost secrets with a five-year-old.
I’ve heard three people will die.
Nice to see you, too, Kristin.
[Laughs.] Adrian, there is no time for niceties. You know I’m a big fan and take this stuff very seriously.
Yes, you do. You’re the roulette girl.
Yes, I am. So, costar to costar, who's gonna die? The promo read "A hero will be lost."
I know. I actually was watching it with Leonard Roberts [D.L.] on Monday night, and it came on with that tag at the end, and we both looked at each other and said, "Are you going? Who’s going? Not me." We were both calling our managers, saying, "Listen, man, I just heard somebody’s getting killed. It isn’t me, is it?"
So, even the castmembers didn’t know?
I knew, I just didn’t know it was this episode. I thought it was the next episode.
Is it a knockdown battle with the other Heroes to see who's gonna survive?
No, it is not a knockdown, drag-out battle. There was a bit of inquiry as to why he/she departed, and I think the answer is satisfactory. We act. They edit. So, we never know what exactly stays or goes in an episode and what’s going to slide to the next episode.
I just still can't believe they're going to kill him off.
Who?
Him...you know...Milo.
[Laughs.] I know. It’s crazy, isn’t it?
Or was it Hayden?... Masi?...Gosh, I can't remember now.
It’s all of us, actually. The whole cast. One big, catastrophic explosion.
Ha! Okay, so you're not going to tell me. Fair enough. But I'm curious, when you get each script, do you flip to the end to see if you're still alive?
No. I mean, at this point I think I am all right. I don’t think I will be going anywhere.
Good, good, good. The next ep looks awesome. What can you say?
There is a little bit of death and mayhem and one of the victims is a Hero, as you know. It answers the questions that were posited, I think, by the first 10 episodes, and it sets in motion what’s going to happen in the second half of season one. The dynamic between myself and my brother, Peter, gets changed quite a bit. I’m running for Congress, and my brother is sitting in jail for murder, so that alters things. We also resolve some substantial issues that people have been asking about this bomb. It’s pretty powerful.
What else? Give me something juicy.
I will say the relationships get much tighter. Familial bonds are revealed, with somebody you probably don’t suspect...I didn’t expect it when I read the script. But furthering the issues that have been set up is really the responsibility of the second half of the season. I can’t talk too specifically about it, but it does get more intense, if that’s possible.
Are you gonna be bad?
Me, Nathan? I’m as much a spectator as you are. But I am six episodes ahead of you. I think all the people that thought I would be bad will have their suspicions confirmed at a certain point, only to be disappointed later when I do something, for a lack of a better word, heroic. I think that’s the beauty of the show. There is no one rationale or one box you can put people in.
One of my favorite scenes so far was with you and Ali—the first time you met up in the hotel room. Your chemistry was crazy hot. Any chance you'll meet up again?
Oh, we meet up again. I can’t tell you what happens, but we meet up again in a big way.
In the last episode, we saw your character six months ago and the car accident. Are we to believe that that was the first time Nathan flew and that he had no control over it?
Right. I think if he had better, advanced notice that he was able to do that, he would have certainly grabbed his wife. I think it was a surprise as much to him as it was to her. It wasn’t a planned event. It just happened. And I think learning to control your powers is something we get into at the end of season one beginning of season two.
You and Milo seem pretty tight.
Yeah, we’ve become very good friends over the course of six months. We have a lot of things in common and we live near each other, so I’ll pick him up if we have a long ride. We share a lot of the same interests. And he's single, living the single life, while I'm married with kids. So, I think we live vicariously through each other. We give each other a lot.
Your wife, Natalie Maines, is she a Heroes fan?
Yeah, she is. She and her band, Dixie Chicks, were on tour in Australia, and they were downloading every episode as it became available on iTunes. This whole Internet thing has become such a big boon and so helpful in creating a buzz for the show. So, we’re grateful for that.
And you have a five-year-old son. He must think you are the coolest dad ever! I mean, you fly. On TV.
Not really. I mean, really, I’m still just dorky dad in my dorky pajamas saying dorky things. But he has been very good at figuring out what’s going on in the show.
Do you give him the scoop on what's going to happen?
I do, yeah.
So, I can just ask him?
Oh, he’s very good at keeping secrets. He’s small, but he’s mighty. He knows how to use his fists. [Laughs.] So I'm not worried.
Heroes airs this Monday on NBC.