MONDO EXTRAS

TWoP: So you've done a ton of shows. I was just looking at your bio. It's enormous. Why do you think all of a sudden this show really caught on and your character has really caught on?

CR: All thanks goes to [creator] Tim Kring. I mean he's just so wonderful and writes this wonderful character. I did a show for him a couple of seasons ago, Crossing Jordan, and in it I played a very high-powered mother who doesn't want to see the corpse of her son. whom she disowned some years prior. He was a drug addict. And then she collapses at the end of the show. I always felt that those qualities in that particular role fed into this particular character. Tim and I have never had that conversation but I'm thinking perhaps that might have made me eligible for consideration for Angela.

TWoP: He kept you in his mind.

CR: I am always amazed that any given actor is working on any given day. 'Cause the chances of getting cast are so small. Or especially in a pilot, let alone the pilot getting picked up. Letting alone the pilot actually taking on. And then the chances of it becoming a big hit go up exponentially. I'm just overwhelmed by this experience and I'm just savoring every single day.

Gardner: There's two big surprises you might want to speak to if you're speaking to fans for week two. Obviously the villains escape, Sylar is captured. And this show does two pretty surprising things. Just to fill you in basically, Ms. Petrelli pretty much, as it turns out, Sylar attacks Elle and as [Co-Executive Producer] Jeff Loeb says: It's probably not a good idea to cut into a woman made of lightning. Elle explodes. Shuts down the grid. Releases the villains. And subsequently, Ms. Petrelli says that her resources are no longer needed.

TWoP: So how does one shut her down?

CR: You don't shut her down. You just send her away. And I set my sights on my son... Sylar.

TWoP: Wait. What? Okay.

CR: Okay? That's the cliffhanger of episode 2. I send Elle away. And she goes away saying what do I do? I'm looking at Sylar and saying just get away. Go away. And I go in. Sylar has been caught. He's just powerless and lying there strapped in, and I welcome him into my family. And I inform him that he is indeed my son. Then she's bending down and saying he has to be strong for what's to come. Now that leads you into episode three, where we discover how Angela is going to prepare Sylar for whatever she has planned. Saving the world once again. Mama Petrelli is always working.