 It was originally intended for Claires friend Zach eventually to be  revealed as gay, and to have his coming out serve as a parallel to  Claires coming to terms with her secret abilities. However, when  the manager for Thomas Dekker (the actor who played Zach) discovered  that this development was in store for the character, she first  insisted that a line identifying Zach as gay be deleted from a  script, and then pulled Dekker from the show altogether. Heroes  producer and writer Bryan Fuller gave an interview in April 2007 in  which he explained that Dekker "was up for the John Connor role in  _"Sarah Connor Chronicles, The" (2007)_ (qv) and [the manager]  didnt want him playing a gay character because it might affect  FOXs interest in hiring him. It got really ugly." Fuller also said  that through Zachs last appearances on the show, "in all of our  minds, the character was still gay but we couldnt say it  explicitly."