Tim Kring, creator of NBC's hit SF series Heroes, told SCI FI Wire that the show's first season will end in a cliffhanger that tees up season two, which was recently given a green light. Kring, speaking in an interview at the recent Television Critics Association winter press tour, added that the first season will resolve the current apocalyptic story arc, in which Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) foresees a nuclear detonation in New York.

"Yes, absolutely," Kring said. "That will be resolved in the first season." As for the cliffhanger? "It's not necessarily a cliffhanger in terms of what has been set up so far storywise," he added. "It's more of a cliffhanger as to the welfare and well-being of several of our characters. ... Obviously it plays into where we kick off at the [beginning] of season two."

Kring also had a few spoilers to offer about the balance of season one, which is currently airing. For one thing, don't expect the villainous Sylar (Zachary Quinto) to go away. "I love Zach Quinto, and I love what he's doing for the show," Kring said. "And the truth is I would like to continue and have him in the second season." There's a reason he's being kept alive by his mysterious captors, he added: "They really want something from him. The organization that Jack Coleman's character [H.R.G.] works for is on some sort of obvious research-oriented, as we call it, tag-and-release program. So there are things that they are gleaning by getting each one of these people. And remember, he is a character who seems to be exhibiting more than one power, which is intriguing to them as to how and why."

As for the rumors that one or more of the main characters will not make it to the end of the season, is that a guarantee? "No, I can't say that," Kring said coyly