When season one of the hit TV show "Heroes" began its run, fans of the show were given one of the most memorable tag lines in recent TV history. "Save the Cheerleader, save the world" paved the way for the show's first award-winning season.
Fast forward to the present in which NBC is rebooting the franchise in "Heroes Reborn". Hayden Panettiere, who played Claire Bennet in "Heroes", is noticeably absent from the show's cast. Considering that the actress is currently starring in another hit show called "Nashville", this is understandable.
With Panettiere not available for Claire, NBC had two options: recast the popular character or kill her off all together. Since the character had a super regeneration factor similar to that of Wolverine of X-Men fame, killing the character seemed very difficult to do, even during the show's original run.
However, News Rama reports that Claire is in fact dead during the events that led to the start of "Heroes Reborn." In a recently released trailer, which can be found on YouTube, Noah Bennet recalls the events that lead to his daughter's untimely demise.
Noah recalls the terrorist attacks on his home town of Odessa, Texas, and that on that day, he lost his daughter Claire. During the trailer, fans see a saddened Noah looking over an autopsy table with a covered body with only blonde hair visible. It is safe to assume that the body underneath the blanket is Claire.
According to Nerdist, this leaves Noah to somehow pick up the pieces and attempt to create a new batch of heroes from a similar fate. The story of "Heroes Reborn" will revolve around what occurred in Odessa as those who have powers have been blamed for what happened.
"Heroes Reborn" will also sport several returning characters, such as time manipulator Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka), mind reader Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) and power voiding Hatian (Jimmy Jean-Louis). New characters include Zach Levi from "Chuck" and "Thor: Dark World" fame. Levi will be playing a vigilante who is seeking revenge against powerful humans who he blames for what happened in Odessa.
Currently, there is no word if other characters from the first run of the show will return, especially that of the Petrelli family who was featured heavily in the show's first run.
"Heroes Reborn" is set to debut on NBC on Sept. 24, 2015.
What do you think of the death of the cheerleader? Let us know in the comments below.