Actor Character Dies

After weeks of speculation about which major “Heroes” character would die this season, and despite a co-star’s claims to the contrary in a radio interview, TV Guide has confirmed that Adrian Pasdar’s character, Nathan Petrelli, is the one getting the ax. To add insult to injury, Pasdar reportedly found out about his character’s death from reading the show’s script, rather than from an in-person meeting with a producer or even a phone call.

For fans, this plot move is not entirely surprising since Pasdar’s original character, Nathan Petrelli, was already killed in last year’s season finale by villain Sylar (Zachary Quinto). In a plot twist, Sylar (who can shape-shift) then took Nathan’s form — meaning Adrian Pasdar could remain on the show despite his character’s death.

It’s nothing new for a major character to die on a TV show, but in recent notable cases, it was the actor’s choice to leave — such as T.R. Knight, whose character died on “Grey’s Anatomy” last season so that Knight could leave the show to explore other options, and Kal Penn on “House,” who asked for his character to be written off so that he could take a full-time job in the Obama administration — a move that happened so quickly that his character, Dr. Lawrence Kutner’s, suicide felt abrupt and nonsensical to many fans.

NBC has yet to confirm that Adrian Pasdar is leaving the show.