Hiro

Masi Oka, who plays time-traveling hero Hiro Nakamura on HEROES, said in a recent interview that his character will remain in Japan for a while and will have a parallel story separate from the rest of the show when the second season kicks off in the fall. "Season two is going to begin with two parallel timelines going on," Oka said. "One starting four months after the explosion and another—mainly Hiro's storyline—starting 400 years in the past. And we'll see how they kind of affect each other." At the end of the hit show's first season, Oka's character found himself transported back in time to 16th-century Japan. According to Oka, Hiro will spend at least eight episodes there before returning to the present. There, he will encounter some of the characters from the stories of his childhood, including the legendary samurai Takezo Kensei, who will be played by David Anders (Sark from ABC's ALIAS). The show is currently finishing the third episode of the upcoming season. "There's a princess," Oka said. "Princess Iako, played by [Japanese pop star] Eriko Tamura, who's going to be in that world, as well as David Anders, who plays Takezo Kensei. That was Hiro's childhood hero that he's always heard about these stories. But David Anders, last time we checked, he was Caucasian. So there's a mystery there." HEROES returns for its second season on Sept. 24 and will air in its regular timeslot, Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.