Digital Spy has a live blog from the “Heroes” panel at Comic-Con. You can read it below, I’ve bolded the parts that talk about Madeline and her character, Gretchen.

3.07pm: I sit in the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton hotel next to the San Diego Convention Center, where the Heroes panel is about to take place. I misplaced my ticket for reserved seating at this panel but have been kindly allowed in regardless.

3.15pm: I have however been moved from the front row towards the back of the room on account of my mistake. It’s okay, I deserve it.

3.17pm: Do feel free to add any comments below as we’re going along, by the way. No heckling please.

3.18pm: The moderator of this panel, a presenter from the TV channel G4, introduces the panelists: Tim Kring, Jack Coleman (HRG), Masi Oka (Hiro), Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter), as well as new cast members Robert Knepper, Dawn Olivieri, Ray Park and Madeline Zima. Huge cheers from the audience, as well as screams of “I love you.”

3.20pm: Tim Kring kicks things off by thanking the audience at Comic-Con for supporting the show. Lest we forget, it first launched here a few years ago to great response.

3.22pm: Kring sets up volume five, saying that the government are now hunting the heroes, leaving them free to go back to their normal lives. “We’re creating a new wrinkle in the mythology of the show. There is a family of people with these powers who had figured out to live alongside us and hide in plain sight. We created this idea of a carnival… They have been hiding all this time, coming in and out of our view. The carnival will now show itself.”

3.24pm: Preview clips: Claire meets a girl at college, where she is recognised for her past actions; Robert Knepper’s new baddie Samuel talking about two possible paths. Matt Parkman throwing a chair in anger at what appears to be a vision of Sylar. Samuel meeting Hiro with the line: “I think we’re going to be great friends.” Sylar leaning over and giving Angela a kiss.

3.26pm: Claire saying: “I don’t want to be pretend to be anyone but me.” Tracy recalling how she felt herself shatter in a chat with HRG. Ando finding a collapsed HRG on some steps. Nathan being kidnapped. Swoosie Kurtz back for a dinner date with Angela – but hints that she has a more sinister agenda. A lesbian kiss between Claire and a brunette. HRG in a car being filled with water.

3.28pm: And finally… Sylar emerging from the dirt.

3.30pm: Kring says that the footage we just saw all came from the first three and a half episodes. The moderator asks each of the panelists to sum up where their characters are at when the new season begins.

3.31pm: Jack Coleman: “I am in a place where we’re setting up this new company, my marriage is falling apart, so there’s sort of a newfound empathy for what it is that people with abilities have been going through. I’m a bit of an island and trying to find some solid ground.”

3.32pm: Masi Oka: “Hiro’s going through an illness, possibly a terminal illness. He gets that bad news and realises what his true destiny is. He goes back and starts a new business with Ando. It kind of goes.”

3.33pm: Hayden Panettiere: “Claire’s in college, freshman year and becomes friends with a very, very interesting girl. C’mon, we’re gonna have fun, right? Girls just wanna have fun. She catches something and accidentally finds out about me. She becomes a good friend and confidante.”

3.34pm: Adrian Pasdar: “I think midseason we start explaining the difference between Nathan and Sylar’s journeys. It gets pretty interesting.”

3.35pm: Zachary Quinto: “My character really exists in two places. One is with Adrian, then the other is inside Matt Parkman’s head. That’s a lot of fun for me.”

3.36pm: Milo Ventimiglia: “Peter’s back to being a paramedic. He;’s got a lot more humour about everything now. He smiles a lot now, but he’s still a guy where if someone comes at him swinging, he’s gonna swing back harder.”

3.37pm: Robert Knepper: “That was a great family to be a part of four years but this family is four years strong as well. They’ve all been so welcoming. Samuel seems to be the reluctant leader of this carnival. His brother has just passed away. He’s made the decision that he’s going to change [their] lives and one by one, lure these heroes in to help him execute this plan.”

3.39pm: Dawn Oliveri: “On the show Samuel and I maybe have some other kind of interesting relationship. I am naked most of the time on the show. I have tattoos and together with Samuel, we can use them to find other people and make our family better. What happens with Lydia, my character, we don’t know yet.”

3.40pm: Ray Park: “I play Edgar, one of the carnival. I play with knives. I’m sent out into the world by Samuel. A lot of the stuff I don’t want to know. I have some cool interaction with Milo coming up. We get to dance around a little bit. I also have the power of superspeed.”

3.42pm: Madeline Zima: “I play Gretchen. I am a freshman at the college Claire goes to. Right off the bat I try to be friends with her.”

3.43pm: Tim Kring on romances: “We’re easing towards a few, but none we’re going to talk about right now.”

3.44pm: Tim Kring on the meaning of redemption: “It’s a chance for us to go back and strip away some of the story elements that make the show harder to go back to. So Claire’s in college, Peter’s a paramedic, Nathan’s a senator and Matt’s a detective again.”

3.45pm: “We find out that Hiro has this terminal illness,” says Masi. “He finds out that his powers are going out of control a bit. His redemption is going back in time and fixing the mistakes he made in the past. He kind of has a bucket list. He wants to leave a legacy before he goes away.”

3.46pm: Jack Coleman says there is a plotline involving him, a car and water that is “quite dramatic”.

3.47pm: Hayden says she has got to throw herself out of a window in one scene.

3.48pm: Adrian: “My arc has taken me away from my regular peeps. I’ve worked with Swoosie Kurtz, which has been a highlight. I’ve also had some new powers to play with, which you’ll see.”

3.49pm: Zach Quinto: “I get to work with Greg Grunberg a lot, which is really fun. Also I got to work with a baby. The baby was really good at crying and it was fun to have to relate to that in a scene. Also I got to climb up out of a grave.”

3.52pm: Milo: “I got to work with Jack Coleman, and it’s been a while. We get reunited for some chicanary. Robert Knepper and I have got to do some work, and also Ray Park – I geeked out the first time I met him, because he’s legendary.”

3.53pm: Knepper: “It looks like Samuel’s going to have scenes with all the heroes, and scenes which are bringing out all the vulnerable sides of them.”

3.55pm: Ray Park, a wonderfully-spoken British gentleman, enthuses about how much he enjoys working on the show. “I’ve always wanted to run away and join the circus, so I get to do it!”

3.56pm: Madeline says she got to do a scene with HRG. “He’s scary, because he kills a fly with one hand.”

3.57pm: Hayden is asked what she thinks Claire’s worst injury was. “I think the worst was the burn. It took five hours in makeup. Burnt to a crisp. Toasty Claire!”

3.59pm: Zach is asked who would win – Spock vs Sylar. “In the end, I think Spock would have to take it. Only because he is fighting for good, and I think ultimately that will always win.” Ahhhh, what a nice boy.

4.00pm: Jack Coleman jokes about HRG’s lack of abilities: “I have the power of impaired vision.”

4.02pm: Questions from the audience. A girl lays compliments on ZQ then goes on a very long convoluted rant about what has happened to Nathan’s soul. “If all of your sense of self and being is removed from the equation, where does that leave you?” he answers. Hmm.

4.03pm: Another question, about characters that haven’t had a fair share of attention – such as Mohinder. “We’re going to be telling less stories per episode,” says Tim. “The idea is to tell deeper stories but not as wide stories. It’s always been a juggling act with a show like this because it’s always been a large cast. We don’t have quite as much bouncing around this season as we did in the past.”

4.05pm: Zach is asked if his new production company will affect his time on Heroes. He says no. “I’ll be available.”

4.06pm: A very sweet-sounding boy propositions Hayden. “When this is adjourned, you can meet me over there,” she replies. Jack Coleman warns the boy not to try any funny business.

4.07pm: Tim Kring is asked about diversity: “We always try to be as diverse as possible. Characters obviously come and go, but it’s a continuing thing that we try to fulfil for the audience. Stay tuned and you’ll see some really cool casting in that area.”

4.09pm: Tim is asked if we’ll ever hear about the fates of Caitlin or West. He replies: “In this volume we have no plans to hear about Caitlin or West.”

4.10pm: Milo is asked if he’s going to “kick any ass” this season. “There is something interesting that he gets to experience this year. A little dance number, we’re calling it, with Ray Park.” Promptly we are treated to a clip. Edgar approaches HRG with a knife but then Peter arrives and intervenes. Edgar keeps throwing knives but Peter catches them. They then enjoy a high-speed knife fight, before Edgar takes off.

4.12pm: … and the panel is through! Stay tuned to Tube Talk for more Comic-Con coverage shortly!

The Comic-Con “Heroes” panel was the place to be Saturday, so much so that “Chuck” star Zachary Levi sneaked in to enjoy the festivities from the side of the Hilton Bayfront’s Indigo Ballroom.

G4′s Blaire Butler as moderator introduced the panelists: creator Tim Kring, Jack Coleman, Masi Oka, Hayden Panettiere, Adrian Pasdar, Zachary Quinto, Milo Ventimiglia, and guest stars Robert Knepper, Dawn Olivieri, Ray Park and Madeline Zima.

With an inconsistent (to say the least) third season and a polarizing season finale, “Heroes” will appropriately enter into Volume Five, “Redemption” for the upcoming season, which debuts Sept. 21.

Kring offered a few words about a “new wrinkle in the mythology of the show.” Apparently, another group of people with special powers have led a different life from our heroes. This group has learned to live among us regular folk without arousing suspicion or fear because they wield their powers under the guise of a carnival show.

“What better way to fit in, but in plain sight,” explained Kring, who added, “And now they’re ready. The carnival will come out and present themselves.”

Also, part of the arc involves everyone going back to normal lives, stripping away those odder story elements that made the show harder to relate to. Kring promises that there will be less storylines per episode, which will allow the show to delve deeper into the characters’ lives. He also says that some upcoming casting will satisfy one audience member’s request for more female diversity.

Fans were treated to a sneak peek trailer for the new season, consisting of scenes from only the first three-and-a-half episodes. From these clips alone, already Season Four looks to be better than the last one. Thank God.

A quick rundown of some of what was in the trailer: Claire goes to college, gets a friend, displays her power to her and kisses her. Yup. You read that correctly. Claire finally gets a degree of normalcy in her life! Peter is back to being a paramedic, and somehow a mysterious compass tattoo appears on his arm. Knepper’s character is the creepy head honcho of the gifted carnival gang and encounters Hiro and also Peter: “The name is Samuel and I think we’re going to be great friends.”

Meanwhile, Nathan is hanging out with Swoozie Kurtz for some reason, while Sylar is yelling at Matt Parkman a lot and hanging out with a worried-looking baby. We see Samuel using power to bury Nathan, and in the last scene of the trailer, a hand bursts from the grave and out pops Sylar.

Wow.

Below is a breakdown of what’s going on with each of the actors and their on-screen alter egos:

Madeline Zima as Gretchen Berg – This college freshman seems to already know about Claire’s reputation, but the become very close friends and confidants. There’s that kiss thing too. “I love working with Hayden. I also once worked with Jack, which was fun because he’s scary. He killed a fly with one hand. It was very ninja of him.”

From Zap 2 It

Any truth to the rumors about Heroes’ Claire becoming a lesbian? -Norm, Escondido, Cal.
Well, Norm, according to Hayden Panettiere (Claire), the persistence of fans like you has paid off. “I think the writers are feeling a lot of pressure now to do it, because everyone’s talking about it,” she says. “And I certainly wouldn’t complain.” The non-alcohol induced action (“just a kiss,” says creator Tim Kring) will happen in Episode 5 between Claire and her new college roomie, Gretchen (Madeline Zima). Hayden describes Gretchen as “an odd duck who’s obsessed with death and shows like CSI.” “They’re really cute together,” Kring says. “If Gretchen reveals her sexual orientation to Claire, Claire might want to reveal her own secret.” In addition to fighting evil (more Heroes on page 33), Claire will also pledge Alpha Chi Delta, where preppy pledge master Becky is guarding a secret of her own. Hayden’s only edict for college: “I’ll never wear a cheerleading outfit again!”

From Oh No They Didn’t

Madeline is going to be a part of the “Heroes” panel at the Comic-Con festival in San Diego, CA.

The details of the Heroes panel at Comic-Con have been revealed. There had been some questions at first as to whether there even would be a Heroes panel this year, but the answer is yes – and it will include both series creator Tim Kring and several core cast members, including Jack Coleman (“Noah Bennet”), Masi Oka (“Hiro Nakamura”, Adrian Pasdar (“Nathan Petrelli”) and Zachary Quinto (“Sylar”). They will be joined by four actors with notable new recurring roles, including Robert Knepper (Prison Break), Dawn Olivieri (How I Met Your Mother), Ray Park (The Phantom Menace) and Madeline Zima (Californication).

The Heroes panel will be held Saturday, July 25th at 3:15-4:15pm. It will be in the Indigo Room at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. This year marks the first time Comic-Con is holding panels outside the San Diego Convention Center, presumably because the increasingly large convention has simply run out of room for panels within the center itself. The Hilton is located right near the Convention Center, but it’s still going to take some extra planning time if you want to attend the Heroes panel and then need to quickly return to a panel back in the Convention Center, so plan accordingly…

Madeline has signed on to co-star in season 4 of the hit NBC series “Heroes”! No word yet on when Madeline’s first episode will air – but I’ll be sure to keep you all posted on exact air dates!

Season four of Heroes begins filming next Monday, and the cast of guest stars is beginning to fill out. Along with returning regulars, like Star Trek’s Zachary Quinto, Volume Five: Redemption will include a new villain and a new friend for Hayden Panettiere’s wayward Claire.

Who are these new characters, and what is the setting for season four? Here’s what we know:

Also on deck for Heroes season four is Madeline Zima, whose life this summer will be intercutting between Californication, where she plays cerebral tease Mia, and the environs of fictional Costa Verde, Calif., where she will be in college with Claire. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Zima’s Heroes character, Gretchen, is “an edgy outsider.”

From E! Online