Sadly – as of this episode Kristen campana departs the mostrar – we loved having her here. She is a pro and an all-around good egg. The scene where Sylar burns her body was her last scene in the series - but I actually directed her on her last día of shooting. This was the scene at the rental car dealership from episode 10. When we wrapped that scene the Assistant Director announced that Kristen was finished in the series. There was a huge round of applause and weepy eyes all around. Tim Kring and Kristen had explored keeping her around longer – and I know Kristen wanted to come back. There were potential storylines about pregnancies and babies…. But the truth is she has a very busy career with a lot of feature films, pilots and much else in the works. We had no official contract with her – and she couldn’t commit to exactly when she could return. And so it was decided that this would be the most exciting way to end her character. She will be missed.

For the very dramatic scene where Sylar burns Elle’s body, we needed somewhere completely isolated and controllable where we would be able to light a fuego without any issues o constraints. For some reason that, I know, Jeannot never understood - we ended up at this weird playa in San Pedro. The playa was rocky and stinky and there were hundreds of feral gatos living there. It was weird – but maybe the weirdness of the location fed into the weirdness of the scene.

Notably, there was a final shot Jeannot designed for this scene that ended up being cut out. It was a huge grua, grúa shot that swooped away as Sylar stood over Elle’s burning body. (See pix below) I remember the script read: “Sylar stands on her burning body. A tinge of remorse. Giving Elle far más respect than any of his anterior victims.” Anyway, the shot was very dramatic and I found it very haunting, almost beautiful. But the network standards and practices people and even Tim Kring thought it was too disturbing. So we cut it - and ended up playing the scene on a simple close up Sylar. This works too. I don’t know, maybe America’s not ready for full-on immolation. I like weird disturbing stuff sometimes. I remember lectura that one of the techniques of the Hindu and Buddhist priests in India is to go to the pyres where bodies are being burned and meditate upon them. These novices sit for days this way. The idea is that in fully experiencing death in this way they learn to accept their own mortality and hold a looser grip upon life... But, whoa... I digress

-Greg Beeman