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No more lesbian cheerleader on “Heroes”

Yesterday I visited the set of NBC’s Heroes, where I learned that the lesbian cheerleader named April, who was to have been played by Lyndsy Fonseca, has been dropped from the show. Earlier this month, Fonseca was cast on ABC’s Desperate Housewives as the daughter of Nathan Fillion (Waitress, Firefly), another new addition to the show. When I asked Heroes creator Tim Kring whether he had recast the part of April, he said, “Well, yes, in a manner of speaking, yes. She obviously appeared in the show, so it’s not recast, it’s just that character can’t be on our show anymore. She’s got another job.”

Fonseca has already shot one episode of Heroes, so you’ll see her in that episode, but it’s unclear as to whether her character’s sexual orientation will have any role in that one-time appearance. “The character went away when she got a new job,” Kring said of April the cheerleader. “When we make those kinds of deals — smaller-arc deals — we don’t have the right to hold onto them if they get a big series regular job, so that’s what happened.”

Last season, Heroes encountered some controversy when the character of Zach (Thomas Dekker) was de-gayed, so I asked Kring if this new development meant that there would be no gay characters in Season 2 of the show. “I’m not saying that, no,” he responded. “I’m just saying that character — we had to go a different direction when she got another job.” So far there’s no word on what that other direction is, and ABC has not yet responded to my requests for further information, but we’ll let you know if we find out more.

Season 2 of Heroes premieres Monday, Sept. 24 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.

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