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The strength of NBC's development season could spell the end of Heroes, according to New York Magazine's Vulture blog.

Check out photos of the Heroes cast

Despite averaging less than 5 million viewers during its fourth season, the buzz surrounding the once-dominant superhero drama was that NBC might give the show a 13-episode fifth season to wrap up its stories and to provide a security blanket should any of the network's new series flop.

Now that the network has given early series orders to five new shows, however, Heroes' renewal is looking less likely, according to the report. NBC, which developed 20 pilots this season, has ordered J.J. Abrams' spy thriller Undercovers, the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Chase, the conspiracy thriller The Event, and the comedies Outsourced and Love Bites.

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Working in its favor, Heroes is owned and produced wholly by NBC Universal, and the show's global DVD sales are a strong source of revenue for the company. As such, the network is also considering a two- to four-hour movie to end the series, according to the Vulture report.

NBC declined to comment, and no official announcement is likely until the network's annual fall schedule presentation on Monday, May 17.

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