Troubling news for Heroes - and television - fans:

The second season of Heroes may be coming to a close a lot sooner than expected. The reason? The impending writers' strike in Hollywood.

Sources tell TV Guide that the show is going back and shooting an alternate ending to the December 3 episode that, if used, would allow the episode to function as a season finale in the event of a strike.

Originally, the episode was only supposed to serve as the conclusion of the current "Generations" arc. Hopefully, if a last-second agreement can be reached and a strike averted, the alternate ending would likely be scrapped.

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