Hayden Panettiere, Tim Kring Discuss Her Heroes Character

According to Tim Kring, creator of NBC’s smash hit Heroes, the character of Claire Bennet changed a lot over the course of season one.

In a recent interview, he and the youngster who plays Claire - our own Hayden Panettiere - talk the evolution of the cheerleader and her dad.

In the excerpts below, Hayden Panettiere also discusses how the now-iconic Claire overcame many obstacles on her way to heroism.

Tim Kring: The character that went through the most change for me was Jack Coleman’s character - Claire’s father. Because if you paid close attention to the pilot, he only had about eight lines of dialog. I always imagined he’d have a presence on the show, I never imaged the big role he had and a lot of that is because of the chemistry between him and Claire. In many ways, the most central relationship of the entire season was that Claire and her father.

Hayden Panettiere: You know, I think that in the beginning she was a normal girl dealing with normal things who wanted to date the quarterback and just fit in. I think it was a fabulous idea to make her a cheerleader cause it made her relatable to people … it reminded people of normal adolescent behavior.

Tim Kring: She literally became a hero. She went through the hero’s journey: from reluctant and unwilling, to someone who willing to make the ultimate sacrifices. In some ways, she’s the most heroic person on Heroes.

Hayden Panettiere: She discovers this thing she has and she looks at it as the worst thing in the world. To a teenager, it was completely dramatic, but over the course of the season she’s evolved into a young woman with a beautiful naiveté who is still a young girl but who has come into her own, who has learned to embrace who she is and the ability she’s been given.

We look forward to learning more about what Tim Kring has in store for Hayden Panettiere and the rest of her Heroes co-stars in season two.