Heroes - SciFi Weekly: Sendhil Ramamurthy Interview

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INTERVIEWS

September 22, 2008

Sendhil Ramamurthy flexes his genetic code in volume three of Heroes

By Ian Spelling


Mohinder Suresh spent the first two seasons of Heroes as a mere mortal among the superpowered characters who populated NBC's blockbuster hit series, but all that will change in season two, says Sendhil Ramamurthy, who's played the sensible, compassionate geneticist since the show debuted.

Among the many developments to come when season three of Heroes kicks off on Sept. 22—which it will do with a two-hour premiere consisting of the episodes "The Second Coming" and "The Butterfly Effect"—Suresh will shoot himself up with a serum that will make him as powerful, in his own unique way, as Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar), Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere), Sylar (Zachary Quinto) or any of the show's assorted heroes and villains. In fact, the big question is this: Will Suresh use his newfound powers for good or evil?

SCI FI Weekly recently chatted with Ramamurthy about Suresh, the ramifications of the character gaining powers and what it's meant to the Indian-American actor to be part of a global sensation like Heroes.

Volume 3 of Heroes is called "Villains," and Suresh apparently will head down a dark path, at least for a while. How have you enjoyed exploring that side of the character?

Ramamurthy: Certainly, as an actor, to get to explore all facets of a character is great. The fact that I've got that opportunity is huge for me as an actor, but I also think that fundamentally the character is the same. You're just going to see a little bit of a darker side to him that I think any good character has. It's just that usually you don't get a chance to see it on TV, because if a character is good, a character is good, and that's it. It's usually black and white, whereas we're getting into gray territory for a lot of the characters.

The way that it's done, I think, is going to be kind of gripping for the audience. They have to deal with the consequences of their actions. It's kind of what the season is about for a lot of the characters. I think Suresh starts to question his morals a little bit because of what's happening around him, to the people around him, and what's happening to him. There are changes happening to him because of this power. He's out of control, and Suresh, if anything, has always tried to be in control of his emotions, because that's all he's got. He didn't have a power. He was the moral compass of the show, and his compass goes a little bit askew this volume.