Zach Quinto: On Syler and Spock

Actor Zachary Quinto has, so far, impressed as the anti-hero we love to hate as he plays the destructive Syler on the hit NBC series "Heroes". We wanted to know if this darkly sexy baddie will recover his full powers this new season, details on an upcoming battle between Sylar and Kristen Bell's Elle character, what makes Sylar tick and what is it like to play the Sci Fi icon young Spock in the upcoming Star Trek movie?

TeenTelevision: Zach, when you first signed on to play Sylar, did you have any idea how popular the character would get? Fans have a love/hate relationship with him.

Zachary: Absolutely not. I don't think there's any way to sort of predict how powerful this show has been for all of us involved and then for our audience. When you get involved in it, it's something that sort of takes you by storm a little bit. And this is obviously the biggest example in my experience of that happening. And obviously I'm most grateful that it did, but had no way of telling when I signed on.

TeenTelevision: Did you always think you would be doing so much Sci Fi as an actor?

Zachary: I never imagined that my experience would lead me so deeply into the comic book and science fiction world as it has. But again it's something that I'm incredibly grateful for. [I come from theater) and I think there's something very theatrical about those worlds. The world of 'Heroes' is incredibly heightened and there's something very theatrical about it. So while I never really expected it, it doesn't necessarily surprise me now that I'm ensconced in it.

TeenTelevision: Were you ready for the enthusiastic Sci Fi fans?

Zachary: It's a really exciting group of fans, you know, and so I feel like that's something else that is an added bonus to the whole thing. It's like probably the most ardent group of people that you could ever be working for in terms of fans and their enthusiasm for the stories that you're telling. So I'm happy to be here. I definitely look forward to exploring other areas of storytelling. But I'm so grateful that this one has brought me to a point where I'll be able to do that.

TeenTelevision: In the last season of 'Heroes" Sylar had lost powers and was spending time laying low and recovering. Now, he's back with a vengeance. Are you happy with the direction and the scripts so far?

Zachary: I think that the scripts this season are more exciting and more action-packed, and more dynamic than ever. Every time I open a script it's truly a thrill. Sometimes when I opened the script in Season 3, it's difficult to keep track of exactly where I'm going because there's so many different aspects of this character's experience this year that are drawn upon. I think people will see as the season unfolds.

TeenTelevision: There's this big battle coming up in the second part of the opener between Sylar and Elle. Is this a huge effects battle or more of a person battle. And, did you enjoy shooting it with Kristen Bell?

Zachary: Well I just love Kristen all around. I love working with her. I love hanging out with her. I think she has a really great energy and is a novel actress. So any time I get to work with her is a good time. But, yeah, it's a pretty epic battle. Some things go down. There's definitely some special effects elements to it. There's some stunt elements to it. It's both personal and epic. As much of our show does, it sort of nicely straddles the line between them.

TeenTelevision: Is it sometimes as hard for the actors to track their characters as it is for the audience?

Zachary: I think our show does a remarkable job of tracking all the characters and then sort of bringing them back around to one another, and dovetailing the stories into each other. For a cast as large as ours, I think all of my fellow actors would agree that each of us get a significant amount in all the episodes that we're in to chew on. There's never a feeling that one storyline is suffering in favor of another.

TeenTelevision: We got some of Sylar's background as Gabriel Grey. Would you like to see more about Sylar's past and how much more dark/evil would you like to see him get?

Zachary: Well I'd certainly be interested in learning as much about his background as the writers see fit. I mean, we do go there again this year. At a certain point you'll sort of revisit that character and the shades of that character as you first saw him. As far as how evil I'd want him to get, I feel like Sylar's evil is rooted in a great humanity and in a lot of smallness, and a feeling of emptiness so I don't really look at it again as like how evil could he possibly get. He's constantly wrestling with the desire to feel special, the desire to feel valid, the desire to feel viable. Those are the ways that I come at it more than the level of evil that he achieves because those are really just means to an end.

TeenTelevision: This is obviously a big year for you with your first movie coming out and it's a doozy. How did you choose Star Trek as your first hiatus movie project and did 'Heroes' help you get the job?

Zachary: Well, I hardly chose it, so to speak. This whole year for me has been such a blur of good fortune. Very little of it was by design. I feel like my experience on 'Heroes' and the world in which it's rooted lends itself to the attention that led me to be a part of the movie. I remain as grateful to be on 'Heroes' now as I did when I first started. There's no amount of success or exposure, or opportunity that's going to really matter or be ultimately fulfilling unless you can be totally present in what you're doing right now. The movie happened during the [writers'] strike and there were so many sort of fortuitous elements that lined up almost in a magical way. I feel like I couldn't be in a better spot. I couldn't be happier to be where I am.

TeenTelevision: Both Sylar and Mr. Spock were part of big casts and broke out as fan favorites but they are very different. Can you talk about the two characters?

Zachary: Sure. I think there's elements of the characters that echo each other but I think they echo each other from very different, opposite ends of the spectrum. Each of the characters employs a stillness and a rich internal point of view that informs the way that they behave and the way that they relate to people around them. It's great fun to have characters that are rich and that are full of challenges and full of rewards. And both of these characters are clearly that. I don't really approach a character as to whether it's good or bad. I just approach a character as to where it lives in me. These very different characters both find life in me.

TeenTelevision: So you do see some similarities?

Zachary: Both these characters are very contained and very controlled. Sylar lets loose in these sort of instincts or impulses to murder and let loose in a violent kind of way.

TeenTelevision: Was it fun to get back to 'Heroes" after doing the Spock role?

Zachary: It was like coming home when we came back to work on the show after going away on a new and uncharted excursion with the movie and the sort of scale and size of the franchise and iconic nature of the character that I was stepping into. There was a tremendous sense of completion when I finished the film and a tremendous sense of familiarity when I came back to work on the show.

TeenTelevision: What challenges face you playing Sylar this new season?

Zachary: For me, this character grows and evolves in so many ways this season. Primarily I think he's put in situations and he is, in some ways, manipulated to employ a kind of restraint against his instincts and his impulses that we've never seen him have to employ before. That's been a fascinating journey for me and also, equally challenging. There's a lot of unexpected turns this year for my character whether it's physical challenge in terms of a fight sequence or a stunt sequence that we're doing, or a special effects sequence or emotional challenge in terms of what he's coming up against in himself and with the people that he's interacting with. So it's been really - it's been a ride for sure.