Heroesalums Masi Oka (Hiro) and Jack Coleman (Noah "Horn-Rimmed Glasses" Bennet) have landed fun new gigs on CBS procedurals, both as characters named Max. "I'm playing an odd little man named Max Bergman," says Hawaii Five-0 addition Masi, who'll begin recurring in Episode 4. "He's brilliant at two things — being the Honolulu medical examiner and playing the piano, which he does in his autopsy-room office to help him think."

Meanwhile, on The Mentalist, Jack pops up on October 14 as a wealthy, arrogant murder suspect named Max Winter. "The man who murdered my wife is himself murdered," reveals Jack, suspecting his character "could conceivably have a fairly profound effect on Patrick Jane [Simon Baker], who lost his own wife and daughter."

Had Heroes continued for one final arc, Masi tells me fans would have seen a brutal bloodbath. "They were going to end everyone's stories by bumping off one character every week," says Masi, who has remained closest to Milo Ventimiglia, Adrian Pasdar and Zachary Quinto. "A 'Ten Little Indians' thing was very much a possibility," seconds Jack. "Based on the execution — no pun intended — it could have been brilliant. Or not."