Greg Grunberg is returning as the telepathic detective, Matt Parkman, in NBC's Heroes Reborn. The Heroes follow-up chronicles the lives of ordinary people who discover they possess extraordinary abilities. Grunberg joins returning cast members Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura, Jimmy Jean-Louis as The Haitian and Jack Coleman as Noah Bennet, aka The Man in Horn Rimmed Glasses, as well as newcomers Zachary LeviRyan Guzman, Robbie Kay, Danika Yarosh,Judith Shekoni, Kiki SukezaneHenry Zebrowski and Gatlin Green.

EW broke the news that Grunberg will have a "guest arc" on Heroes Reborn. Hopefully, his role will be more than a fan-service appearance, as I'd hate to see the new series get bogged down in the ultimately unsatisfying mythology of the original. Heroes debuted at a very different time in the media landscape, before the superhero saturation really kicked off. We had X-Men, we had Spider-Man, but there was no regular programing of comic book adaptations, let alone an MCU.

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Image via NBC

At the time, Heroes offered a unique shared universe experience that used to be reserved for the comics. I'm interested to see how this new revival of Heroes holds up without the benefit of that novelty, and I think the best shot it has is to keep up with today's superhero savvy audiences is to ditch the elements that didn't work in the final seasons of Heroes. Which is not to say that I'm not happy to see Grunberg back, Matt was an endearing character and a good guy til the end, so hopefully he can use his super detective skills to help move the plot forward, rather than acting as a cameo that only looks back.

Here's the official synopsis for Heroes Reborn.

The saga behind the 2006 breakout series “Heroes” will continue this fall as creator Tim Kring returns to the fold and develops new layers to his original superhero concept.

This highly anticipated 13-episode event series will reconnect with the basic elements of the show’s first season, where ordinary people were waking up to the fact that they had extraordinary abilities.

 

Original cast member Jack Coleman will reprise his role as H.R.G., Jimmy Jean-Louis returns as The Haitian, and Masi Oka will be back as Hiro Nakamura. Also joining the cast are Zachary Levi (of NBC’s “Chuck” and the Marvel franchise “Thor”), Ryan Guzman (“The Boy Next Door”), Robbie Kay (“Once Upon a Time”), Danika Yarosh (“Shameless”), Judith Shekoni (“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2″), Kiki Sukezane (“Death Yankee 3″), Henry Zebrowski (NBC’s “A to Z”) and Gatlin Green (“Criminal Minds”).

 

With the return of “Heroes Reborn,” NBC will launch a digital series prior to the premiere that will introduce new characters and storylines that will take the “Heroes” phenomenon to new places. NBC’s digital platforms, as well as Hulu and video-on-demand, will debut the online prequel to the series prior to the show’s premiere.

 

Tim Kring, Peter Elkoff and James Middleton will serve as executive producers.

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Image via NBC