Hayden Panettiere Not Asked Back For ‘Heroes: Reborn’

Save the cheerleader, save the world?

It appears the mission has changed for NBC’s upcoming “Heroes” reboot, “Heroes: Reborn.”

Hayden Panettiere, who starred as Claire Bennet (the cheerleader gifted with cellular rejuvenation) on the original series, wasn’t asked to return for the recently announced miniseries. In fact, the actress said she heard about the new show through the grapevine.

“It was a shock to me, and, in fact, I believe I became privy to that through my cousin,” Hayden told Cosmopolitan, when asked about her reaction to the news of a “Heroes’” resurrection. “She sent me a text message and told me about it, and, I mean, we had nothing, nothing to do with it; it will definitely be interesting to see how they reinvent that.”

The actress, who now stars as country music wild child Juliet Barnes on ABC’s “Nashville,” said she has no idea what her character’s storyline would be, were they to bring her back.

“Who knows?” she said. “It’s a little bit of an interesting feeling because you go, ‘That was our show, our home, our family,’ something that we had a major part in creating as well, and, I mean, I hope that they don’t have somebody else playing our characters, that would be a little dagger in the heart. But, you never know.”

Despite the surprising turn of events, Hayden said she hopes the show does well.

“I wish them success in it, for sure,” she said.

— Erin O’Sullivan