When it was first announced that Heroes would be returning to NBC in the form of a 13-episode miniseries called Heroes Reborn, I immediately started thinking about who from the original show would come back for this new series. We all did.

Then, as original cast member after original cast member was confirmed to not be appearing on this new series — from Hayden Panettierre to Milo Ventimiglia to Zachary Quinto — the future of Heroes Reborn looked about as bright as that ominous, swirling sky featured in the show's promotional materials. Would it be possible to enjoy this reboot without at least a cameo from some of our favorite characters from the series?

Though the jury is out on that until Heroes Reborn premieres on Thursday night, Tim Kring, the creator and showrunner of both series, said at the Television Critics Association in August that he always intended the series to be "very elastic in its premise" and "repopulate itself," meaning that it would be easy for brand-new viewers to pick up and watch. We'll have to wait and see if indeed they do.

Don't worry, all you devoted Heroes fans out there. Heroes Reborn will in fact feature many characters from Heroes with the original actors playing them as well. How could you do anything relating to Heroes without HRG or Hiro Nakamura? I mean, really.

However, since Heroes Reborn is set five years after the series finale of Heroes takes place, your favorite characters are probably looking a bit different these days. Five years is a long time, and whether or not you were a fan of Heroes the first time around, it'd probably be helpful for you to know why these returning characters are important to the story and how they're going to fit into Heroes Reborn. Here's what you need to know about each of the Heroes OGs in this new series with some MAJOR SPOILERS about the original show ahead, of course.

Noah Bennet (Jack Coleman)

Where to begin with Noah Bennet? Noah, nicknamed Horn-Rimmed Glasses or HRG for his ever-present eyewear accessory, was one of the most enigmatic characters of the original Heroes series. He worked on-and-off as an agent for the Company, which used the cover name Primatech Paper and aimed to make it so the public never knew about people with extraordinary abilities. In order to do this, for much of the series, Noah was shown to be tracking down and rounding up heroes. Whether or not Noah was with the Company, his number one priority was always protecting his daughter, Claire (Hayden Panettiere), who had the ability to regenerate, even if he often kept secrets from her. For much of the final season of Heroes, Noah and Claire argued over whether or not to expose the heroes. Claire eventually went against Noah's wishes and did just that in the series finale.

Out of all of the returning characters, Noah seems to be the one featured most prominently in Heroes Reborn. Many of the promos for the show feature shots of Noah in the midst of what looks like some sort of explosion, which is likely the terrorist attack that devastates his hometown of Odessa, Texas a year before Heroes Reborn begins. We also already know that Claire is dead at the start of Heroes Reborn, for which this terrorist attack may be responsible. My guess is that's what causes Noah to go off the grid in Heroes Reborn, only to be brought back into the fold when a conspiracy theorist, new character Quentin Frady (Henry Zebrowski), tells him the truth about what really happened in Odessa. If the promos for Heroes Reborn are any indication, it looks like Noah will be back fighting for the heroes in no time.

Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka)

If you know one character from Heroes, it's probably the time-traveling Hiro Nakamura. On the original series, Hiro famously used his power to go back into the past and warn Peter Petrelli about Claire's impending doom with the tagline, "Save the cheerleader, save the world." Throughout Heroes, we would see Hiro use his ability to try and save a waitress with a super-sharp memory from the clutches of Sylar (Zachary Quinto), travel back in time in an attempt to stop legendary samurai Takezo Kensei (David Anders) from destroying the world and generally try to keep the other heroes and his loved ones out of harm's way. Hiro and his best friend Ando were also integral in saving the world from Samuel's (Robert Knepper) group of evil carnies. You had to be there.

Hiro's involvement in Heroes Reborn is a little less clear than Noah's. The promos that have been released so far seem to show both an older Hiro and the return of Future Hiro teaming up with Noah. Some clips have also shown Future Hiro wielding a sword against an adversary and looking like he's breaking out the old time-traveling ability. Oka also said Hiro will be more mature than the character we saw in the original series but not as jaded as Future Hiro, who will now be soul patchless, during an interview with BuddyTV at this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego.

Actress Kiki Sukezane, who plays new Heroes Reborn character Miko Otomo, also revealed that she had done some filming with Oka during an interview with T-Lounge in July. That samurai sword we've seen Miko hold in promotional materials for Heroes Reborn also looks an awful lot like the sword of Takezo Kensei that Hiro desperately searches for in Season 1 of Heroes. My guess is that we'll see this sword connect Miko to Hiro somehow in this new miniseries.

Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg)

On Heroes, Matt Parkman had the sometimes-wonderful, sometimes-awful ability of reading other people's minds and placing thoughts in their heads as well. In the beginning, this often came in handy for the LAPD officer-turned-detective. However, this ability also enabled Matt to get information that was a little harder to hear, such as his wife's infidelity. When Sylar killed Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) and assumed his body, Matt was responsible for wiping away all of Sylar's memories so that this individual could basically live as the Petrelli brother. For much of Season 4 of Heroes, Matt focused on protecting his wife and newborn son. Matt was one of the heroes most directly at odds with the Company and Noah throughout the series.

In Heroes Reborn, Matt may turn to the dark side. "Matt's made a decision that's based on taking care of his family, but it puts us in opposition," Coleman told TV Guide in July. Clips in the Heroes Reborn promos seem to back that up, as well as show Matt usually in a suit and with a gun in his hand. Whether Matt is good or bad in Heroes Reborn, it looks like he definitely means business. With everything that he went through in the original Heroes series, it's no surprise that it has inspired Matt to come back with a vengeance.

Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy)

Genetics professor Mohinder Suresh was an outsider looking in at the beginning of Heroes. He learned about the existence of people with extraordinary abilities after the death of his father, Chandra. In Season 1, Mohinder tried to learn about the genetic makeup of the heroes as he took part in a wild goose chase looking for his father's killer, Sylar, all over America. Mohinder soon crossed paths with Molly Walker, a young girl who had the ability to locate others with her mind and who was also infected with a mysterious virus. When other heroes started to come down with the virus, he searched for a cure to save them. Mohinder eventually injected himself with the blood of hero Maya (Dania Ramirez) and gained an aggressive ability with some nasty side effects. Mohinder was eventually rounded up with other fugitives in Building 26. In Season 4 of Heroes, Mohinder was at odds with Samuel, attempted to help improve Hiro's failing health and eventually planned to return home to India in the end.

As one of the few main characters with a scientific background, I can only imagine that Mohinder will be called upon to use his expertise once again to help those with extraordinary abilities in Heroes Reborn. The official trailer released for Heroes Reborn during this year's Comic-Con International showed Mohinder on a TV screen being labeled an EVO, the miniseries' word for a person with extraordinary abilities, terrorist, so things aren't looking great for him in this new series. What's more, a promo for Heroes Reborn has shown Mohinder meeting up again with Angela Petrelli (more on her later), and we know she's one shifty character. Mohinder also waxes philosophical in the voiceover for another promo, saying, "Where does it come from, this need to solve life's mysteries? Who will hold our hand, touch our hearts, like a glowing light of the new dawn? We hope to make a difference. We hope to change the world." It's unclear if Mohinder will actually deliver those lines in Heroes Reborn or if that narration is just used to set the tone for the new miniseries, which is probably the case, but we can always depend on Mohinder to deliver some deep thoughts.

René a.k.a. The Haitian (Jimmy Jean-Louis)

We never found out much about René, more commonly referred to by the not-so-PC name of the Haitian on Heroes. The Haitian's special ability was that he could wipe people's memories just by touching their temples with his hands. He was basically the right-hand man of Noah, who never wanted anyone to remember what he was doing for the Company. Throughout the series, the Haitian also contracted the virus, did some dirty work for Angela and watched over Claire and her college roommate at the request of Noah.

Not much has been revealed about the Haitian's role in Heroes Reborn other than the fact that the character is confirmed to appear in the new miniseries. However, knowing his past history on the series, he'll probably team up with Noah again, because that guy can always find some minds that need erasing.

Angela Petrelli (Cristine Rose)

At first, Angela just seemed like your typical overprotective, WASP-y matriarch of the Petrelli family. However, soon enough, we found out that Angela was not at all who she appeared to be. It was revealed that she was a founding member of the Company, she often put her sons Nathan and Peter in harm's way, even if she said there were good intentions behind her actions, and she had the ability to see the future in her dreams.

Though Angela was mostly portrayed as an untrustworthy character on Heroes, she might be the world's last hope on Heroes Reborn. As previously mentioned, promos for the miniseries have shown Angela meeting up with Mohinder to tell him that she has arrived to save everyone from a "catastrophic event." We'll have to wait and see exactly what that is and why Angela is the one to stop it, but if that turns out to be true, the heroes may have no choice but to trust her after all.

Micah Sanders (Noah Gray-Cabey)

Micah Sanders wasn't just a kid on Heroes; he also had the extraordinary ability of manipulating electronics. Micah is the son of Niki Sanders (Ali Larter) and D.L. Hawkins (Leonard Roberts), but he was often sent to live somewhere other than his home, such as with his grandmother in New Orleans in Season 2, to keep him safe from his mother's violent alter ego Jessica. Micah was of course devastated when his mother was killed in a burning warehouse in Season 2. Micah and his family were pursued by government agents in Season 3, and he crossed paths with one of his late mother's triplets, Tracy Strauss, as well.

By the end of Season 3, Micah basically disappeared from the series, but an older and hopefully wiser Micah is back for Heroes Reborn. Seeing now-19-year-old Gray-Cabey onscreen is guaranteed to make you feel really old. In the official trailer for the series released during this year's Comic-Con International, Micah takes down his black hood to reveal his face and says, "I'm just another one of the hunted, but you can call me Micah." In a recent promo, Micah looks like he's wearing white scrubs, which makes me hope he followed in Peter's footsteps and became a nurse. He also says in that promo, "It's time for us all to stand together and fight." Working under the alias Rebel, Micah was always a bit of a vigilante when it came to taking down wrongdoers on Heroes, so it looks like he's getting ready to take them down once and for all in Heroes Reborn. I, for one, couldn't be more excited to see how that plays out.

Molly Walker? (Adair Tishler/Francesca Eastwood)

As I previously mentioned, Molly Walker (Adair Tishler) was the young girl who had the ability to use her mind to find anyone's location in the world. Molly had the same virus that killed Mohinder's sister, and she eventually came under the care of Mohinder and Matt, who were tasked with protecting her from both Noah and Sylar. Molly was integral in locating some of the heroes and villains throughout the first two seasons of the series. In Season 2, there was this whole weird storyline where Molly got put into a nightmarish coma by Matt's father, Maury, who also had the power of telepathy. By the end of Season 2, Mohinder sent Molly away to a safe location in India, saving her from Sylar.

So, there's a question mark next to Molly's name up there because she hasn't been confirmed as a returning character for Heroes Reborn. However, there is a character by the name of Molly played by Francesca Eastwood listed in the miniseries' IMDb page. Molly is a fairly common name, so this could just be a coincidence, but that would just be too big of a coincidence, wouldn't it? When Eastwood's casting in Heroes Reborn was announced in April, Deadline reported that her character was rumored to be "a manipulative young woman," but no character name was provided. Yahoo TV reported in June that Molly "isn't listed among the people with superpowers," which differs from the Molly on Heroes. We can only hope that this character does end up being the Molly we all know and love, albeit with a lot more edge.

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