Heroes season 3

The NBC superhero serial drama series Heroes follows the lives of people across the globe who possess various superhuman powers as they struggle to cope with their everyday lives and prevent foreseen disasters from occurring. The third season premiered on September 22, 2008, and was released on DVD on September 1, 2009.

Within the seasons of Heroes are "volumes", which allow the writers to focus on shorter story arcs. The third season comprised 25 episodes that aired in two blocks generally without reruns. The first 13 episodes of the season made up the third volume, Villains, and the final 12 comprise the fourth volume, Fugitives. The season premiered on September 22, 2008 in the United States on NBC and on Global in Canada, with a one-hour clip-show and two regular episodes. The DVD and Blu-ray were released on September 1, 2009 in the United States and Canada.

Plot
"Villains", the season's first volume, began with the assassination attempt on Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar) by Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia) from the future, and explores its consequences. In addition, several villains with abilities escape from the Company's prisons. Some of them join forces with Arthur Petrelli (Robert Forster) (Peter's and Nathan's father) at Pinehearst Company, who wants to find a formula that gives ordinary people abilities in order to make the world a better place. Character arcs involve Tracy Strauss (Ali Larter) discovering her origins, Sylar (Zachary Quinto) trying to decide his loyalties, Peter losing his ability, Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) giving himself an ability, and Hiro Nakamura's (Masi Oka) discovery of a family secret.

The second part of season three, titled "Fugitives", involves what happens after Nathan fails to produce the formula. After the destruction of Primatech and Pinehearst, the heroes attempt to lead normal lives until Nathan tells the President of the United States (Michael Dorn) about people with abilities, and runs a government force, headed by Emile Danko (Željko Ivanek), to round them up. Micah Sanders (Noah Gray-Cabey), posing as "Rebel", starts to help people with abilities hide from the government. Meanwhile, Sylar searches for his father (John Glover).

Main characters

 * Milo Ventimiglia as Peter Petrelli
 * Adrian Pasdar as Nathan Petrelli
 * Jack Coleman as Noah Bennet
 * Sendhil Ramamurthy as Mohinder Suresh
 * Cristine Rose as Angela Petrelli
 * Zachary Quinto as Sylar
 * Hayden Panettiere as Claire Bennet
 * James Kyson Lee as Ando Masahashi
 * Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura
 * Greg Grunberg as Matt Parkman
 * Ali Larter as Tracy Strauss
 * Dania Ramirez as Maya Herrera

Recurring characters
• Brea Grant as Daphne Millbrook

• Ashley Crow as Sandra Bennet

• Željko Ivanek as Emile Danko

• Jamie Hector as Benjamin "Knox" Washington

• Ntare Mwine as Usutu

• Blake Shields as Flint Gordon, Jr.

• Robert Forster as Arthur Petrelli

• David H. Lawrence XVII as Eric Doyle

• Kristen Bell as Elle Bishop

• Randall Bentley as Lyle Bennet

• Jessalyn Gilsig as Meredith Gordon

• Jimmy Jean-Louis as the Haitian

• Malcolm McDowell as Daniel Linderman

• David Anders as Adam Monroe

• Alan Blumenfeld as Maury Parkman

• George Takei as Kaito Nakamura

• Dan Byrd as Luke Campbell

• Francis Capra as Jesse Murphy

• Noah Gray-Cabey as Micah Sanders

• Demetrius Grosse as Baron Samedi

• Lisa Lackey as Janice Parkman

• Eric Roberts as Eric Thompson

• Adair Tishler as Molly Walker

• Stephen Tobolowsky as Bob Bishop

Reception
Season three of Heroes started with strong ratings that dropped steadily throughout the season. The season's finale placed last in its timeslot.

This season was met with mixed to negative reception with most criticism directed towards the storylines, writing and characters. However many retrospective reviews have considered the second half, "Fugitives", to be a major improvement over the previous two seasons.

Home media
The Season 3 DVD Box set was released in North America on September 1, 2009, and in Australia on September 2, 2009 with an alternative cover, and in the UK on October 12, 2009.