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Meet Nora Zehetner, Heroes' Newest Empowered Stranger!

The final moments of last week's Heroes (Mondays at 9 pm/ET)  let loose with yet another whopper: Sweet li'l Eden McCain, aka Horn-rimmed Glasses' gal Friday, boasts the superpower of suggestion, and is apparently able to make anyone do anything she says. While Nielsen Media Research subpoenas the brunette beauty's phone records, TVGuide.com gave her portrayer, indie regular Nora Zehetner (Brick, Fifty Pills) a call to find out what's next on NBC's super-unpredictable hit. TVGuide.com: From Day 1, did you know that Eden would be one of the heroes, that she had her own special something?Nora Zehetner: Yeah, I did. When I went to audition, I was kind of adamant that I wanted a power, but it turned out that that was their plan from the beginning. Who wants to be on a

Matt Webb Mitovich

The final moments of last week's Heroes (Mondays at 9 pm/ET)  let loose with yet another whopper: Sweet li'l Eden McCain, aka Horn-rimmed Glasses' gal Friday, boasts the superpower of suggestion, and is apparently able to make anyone do anything she says. While Nielsen Media Research subpoenas the brunette beauty's phone records, TVGuide.com gave her portrayer, indie regular Nora Zehetner (Brick, Fifty Pills) a call to find out what's next on NBC's super-unpredictable hit.

TVGuide.com: From Day 1, did you know that Eden would be one of the heroes, that she had her own special something?
Nora Zehetner: Yeah, I did. When I went to audition, I was kind of adamant that I wanted a power, but it turned out that that was their plan from the beginning. Who wants to be on a show about superheroes and not have a power, you know?

TVGuide.com: As far as you know, any there any rules or limitations to her ability? Like, does she need to whisper it into the person's ear or...?
Zehetner:
No, no. I thought that’s how it was at first, too, and I think that’s what they were thinking at one point, but it'd be hard to use that power if you could only whisper it in the ear.

TVGuide.com: Eden said to H.R.G. that this, with Isaac, would be the last time she uses it. Is it really?
Zehetner: I don’t know.... [Cryptically] I would guess not....

TVGuide.com: Have there been instances in your life where you could have used the superpower of suggestion?
Zehetner:
All the time! But you have to think about [how much] fun it would really be in the end, because you would never know if somebody was doing something because they wanted to or because you forced them to. But yes, there have been many instances where I wish I could have had that power.

TVGuide.com: Like when Eden told Mohinder to come back. If he does, she'd probably like to believe that he came back of his own volition.
Zehetner: She actually didn’t use her power then, though she could have. She's convinced he's going to come back on his own.

TVGuide.com: H.R.G. made reference to what Eden was "back when I found you." Will we be getting any additional insight into what he meant, in the weeks to come?
Zehetner: Yeah, actually, in Episode 10 [airing Nov. 27], a little bit more will be revealed about who she was beforehand. It's [the] "Six Months Ago" [episode], where we get a bit of the characters' backstories.

TVGuide.com: I see that you already have earned some mean nicknames for your character on the Internet. One that I've seen was a play on "Tinkerbell."
Zehetner:
Yeah, I heard about that. I don’t know how I feel about it. [Laughs]

TVGuide.com: I'm sure it's just a play on your hairstyle. How has it been for you, to come from independent films and then be a part of this media-adored, hit prime-time TV show?
Zehetner:
I've enjoyed working on it just because it's a really lovely cast and crew, and I have fun doing it.

TVGuide.com: Heroes has proven wildly successful for NBC....
Zehetner: It has, yes, and that’s fantastic, but I haven’t been really [caught up] in it yet. But I am very, very happy for it to be a big hit, because you just don’t know coming onto a new show. I don’t usually do much very much TV, but I really enjoyed the pilot, and that’s why I decided to [join the cast].

TVGuide.com: How is Jack Coleman as a "boss"?
Zehetner: He's a very nice boss, really fun to work with. We had to do this scene where [Whispering] I spit on him....

TVGuide.com: By accident?
Zehetner:
No, on purpose! I hope I'm not giving too much away.

TVGuide.com: Oh, I think you can reveal that Eden spits on H.R.G.
Zehetner:
I felt so horrible, but he was very gracious about it. I don’t know how gracious I would be, honestly.... And we had to do, like, 10 takes.

TVGuide.com: So do you know H.R.G.'s first name? You probably do....
Zehetner:
I don't. I really don't. I have no idea.

TVGuide.com: We see Eden so attentively mopping Isaac's brow. Is she going to be drawn to him, or is she pretty much set on Mohinder?
Zehetner:
She definitely feels a strong connection with Mohinder, and I think she really, really, actually cares for him. Everybody, of course, was upset when they saw the reveal [of Eden's association with H.R.G.], because they thought that I was fooling him the whole time, and there was a level of deceit there, but there are real feelings behind it. She feels a kinship with Isaac because I think she had a similarly hard time controlling her power before H.R.G. took her under his wing.

TVGuide.com: During your last TV gig, on Everwood, you took a lot of heat for breaking up Ephram and Amy....
Zehetner:
I did! I did.... [Laughs] I don’t think people liked it very much, but after a few episodes, they were like, "OK, fine...." On that type of show, there are always the two characters that you want to be together, but you have to drag that out, or what else will you do? It's just unfortunate that I was the first one to come in and kind of get in the middle. But I paved the way!

TVGuide.com: What else do you have coming up?
Zehetner:
I just did another film, a comedy, which I don’t normally do. It's an ensemble set in L.A., called Remarkable Power, which is the name of a self-help book that plays a central role in the movie. It's with Tom Arnold, Kevin Nealon, Dulé Hill, Christopher Titus... a bunch of people.

TVGuide.com: How about leaving us with a tease for Heroes' "Homecoming" episode, airing the night this Q&A posts?
Zehetner:
It's the first time that you really get a look at Sylar, which is pretty exciting. I come into contact with him.... Can I say that? I feel like I'm going to get in trouble....

TVGuide.com: Oh, it's fine, it’s fine....
Zehetner:
Of course you're going to say it's fine! [Laughs]

Send in your comments on this Q&A to online_insider@tvguide.com.