It's tough to imagine Heroes without Sylar as the bad guy, but with Nathan Petrelli dead and shape-shifting Sylar convinced into thinking that he is in fact Nathan Petrelli so that nobody else knows about Petrelli's death, and so Angela can still "have her son" in some strange and bizarre way (confusing, I know), Heroes was in need of a new bad guy.  Enter Robert Knepper, who most of us have come to know as the villainous Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell on Fox's Prison Break.  Knepper will play a charismatic but evil character named Samuel, with a twisted sense of humor in at least six episodes next season.

Knepper joins Star Wars Alum Ray Park, Deanne Bray, and Madeline Zima as new season 4 characters, many of whom will be part of a 'Carnivale'-esque traveling show with a host of eccentric ability-riden characters.

Source: Reuters

Has Sylar Been Replaced? "Heroes" Casts New Bad Guy

Madeline Zima of Californication fame, has been anounced to play Gretchen, a new multi-arc recurring role on NBC's forth season of Heroes.  Zima will play the edgy outsider and college roommate to Claire (Hayden Panettiere).

Whether or not Gretchen will have abilities of her own, or will maybe just learn a bit about Claire's indestructability remains to be seen, but the busy actress certainly brings a lot of credits to the Heroe's set, including four new movies set to come out in the near future.

The forth season of Heroes (and the fifth volume) is set to begin in the fall on NBC.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Heroes Casting News; Madeline Zima Joins Season 4