Zachary Quinto feels that science fiction is "a really profound genre" but after Heroes and the upcoming Star Trek film, he would like to perform onstage.

In an interview with Rope of Silicon, Quinto said that he enjoyed playing the evil Sylar on Heroes, who is not difficult for him to portray. "He's got a lot of things going on at one time and that's always nice to work with from an acting perspective," the actor said. "As far as the darkness goes, it doesn't take a lot to look around the real world and see that kind of darkness."

The astonishing success of the show has surprised him, and the mobs of people at Comic-Con were "insane", Quinto added. "The scale of it is pretty epic...the people are so responsive in such an overwhelmingly favorable way," he said. "I enjoy that and I think it is fun and worthwhile. I think we need to extend ourselves as much as they have extended themselves." But asked whether he would be enjoying the science fiction convention circuit with Sylar and Spock to boost him, he added, "At this point I feel like I invite that fan base to join me in going into other genres and other places...certainly I enjoy conventions, but it requires a lot of energy so I don't know how often I will do it." He said he would not be attending any others before next spring.

Quinto is uncertain where Sylar's arc may be leading or how long he will be with the show. Asked to make comparisons with Spock, he laughed, "I don't see any similarities between the two...I think I am going to try and impose as distinct a separation between the two as I possibly can."

However, he sees similarities between the two franchises: "I think the message of 'Star Trek' and the message of 'Heroes' is the overwhelmingly optimistic message about humanity and its capacity to evolve and survive and to hold itself accountable considering the state of things. We live in a world where that is imminently necessary. It is nice to be a part of those things."

Though he had only seen a smattering of Star Trek episodes during his youth, Quinto said he was less of a fan of science fiction then and explained that "it is really interesting to come to it now and to recognize the depths of it...I feel grateful to learning as much as I am about the 'Star Trek' mythology."

The full interview is here.

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