"Heroes" creator Tim Kring says he's a bit surprised that fans would not expect there to be major death on his NBC hit series. Even with popular, good-looking future painters like Isaac Mendez, the character played by Santiago Cabrera who met his fate Monday night against Sylar.

"When you have a villain as vicious as Sylar, some characters have to pay the ultimate price," Kring told TV Guide. "We've set the bar high as a show that plays truthfully with the audience -- and we have to keep delivering on that."

Cabrera himself said he knew the writing was on the wall for his character, especially after he shot and killed his one-time girlfriend Simone.

"Isaac stood up to Sylar and went out a hero despite his fears and torment and heroin addiction, and I'm very proud of that," Cabrera said. "I'm sad to go, but was prepared for it. I always said that if this day came, I'd bow my head in thanks because it's been an amazing ride."

Many shows, it's the actors and the characters the keep things together, and "Heroes" has been no stranger with the likes of Masi Oka, who plays Hiro. But in the end, it's not the characters that drive the writers and producers on the show to do what they do, Cabrera said.

"The entire cast knew going into 'Heroes' that story is king," he said. "There's a whole new season with a whole new concept coming, and Isaac was in the way. Ironically, his ability to see the future was pretty limiting -- he had to be in his loft to paint and manifest his power. He never left the building except for that dream sequence where Peter explodes. With a show as sprawling as 'Heroes,' that's a problem."

Apparently Cabrera forget when Isaac was a prisoner of HRG ... but it's hard to keep up.

Anyway, what should fans expect in the final episodes that are airing in the next month?

"We love our shocks and surprises, but we also honor our commitments," Kring said. "We showed Isaac dead on the floor way back in Episode 2. Sure, we could have found a way out of that, but it's not our style. We take story seriously."