Michael Ausiello of TV Guide just back from the TCA-sponsored press event on the Heroes set. Here are the scoops he discovered for season two:

• Lyndsy Fonseca is out as Claire's gay cheerleader pal. No, not out like T.R. Knight. She's out as in, off the show. According to Heroes creator Tim Kring, Fonseca's role had to be cut short after she landed a series-regular gig on Desperate Housewives.

"She wasn't a pivotal character," Kring says of Claire's friend, who will now appear in just one episode. "The idea was that that part would grow, but it never got a chance to."

• The entire cast was present with the exception of Leonard Roberts (D.L.), although Kring cautioned reporters not to necessarily "read anything into that." But considering this is the second Heroes press conference Roberts has bailed on this summer, we're guessing D.L. is a goner.

• New cast member Dania Ramirez revealed that when we first meet her character, Maya, "she's on the run from the cops."

• Zachary Quinto was neither confirming nor denying reports that he's in line to play a young Spock in Damon Lindelof and J.J. Abrams' Star Trek pic. "I'm under strict orders not to say anything," he said.

But Greg Grunberg was under no such gag order. "How exciting is that?" he enthused. "Now I've got to beg, plead and scrape to get in that movie! I mean, what's wrong with me as Scotty? Down in the engine room, rotisserie chicken.... "

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.