Bruce Boxleitner Joins Heroes Season 3

With Heroes Season 3 gearing up production as we speak, new castmembers are still being added to the show. The latest addition is former Babylon 5 star Bruce Boxleitner, who, according to TV Guide, will be playing a role that was “originally going to be modeled after [Republican and Presidential Candidate] Senator John McCain.” Which means he’ll be playing a politician on the show, which probably means he’ll be playing the other second character previously reported to have been added to the show’s Season 3.

Here was the original article about the two new characters for the upcoming season:

Two new recurring roles are being cast, both of which are slated to debut in the Season 3 premiere. “Joy” is in her early twenties and described as “quick on her feet — and adept at getting herself into and out of trouble.” Senator Robert Malden, meanwhile, is in his fifties and a political straight shooter.

We now know that Joy has been cast, and will be played by Brea Grant (reported here). Now with Boxleitner cast as a politician on the show, is there any doubt he’ll be playing Senator Robert Malden?

TV Guide had this on the casting:

Bruce Boxleitner, who played Scarecrow to Sabrina Duncan’s Mrs. King in the mid-80s, has snagged a top-secret recurring role that was originally going to be modeled after Sen. John McCain. The character has since been reconceived, and now all I know for sure is that he’ll be sharing scenes with a female series regular.

And there was this additional tidbit about the new characters, which may help to quash fears that Heroes Season 3 is overloading, once again, on new blood at the expense of the old ones:

By the way, although it may seem like Heroes is getting ready to force-feed us another batch of newbies, an NBC insider insists that’s definitely not the case. Yes, the show is introducing some new faces next season, but the primary focus, my source maintains, will remain “on the core characters from the pilot.”

Does the above address any concerns those of us have about the show loading up on too many characters, without enough screentime to go around? Maybe. It’s good that the Powers That Be seem to acknowledge the problem, and isn’t that the first sign of addressing it? Hopefully.

(Thanks to forum member HERO for the heads up on the article.)