San Diego Comic-Con hit its halfway point Friday night following a frantic day of news and headlines from The Walking Dead and Amazon.
With nearly 90 TV panels and countless activations outside the Convention Center, cutting through the cluttered landscape — and we’re not even counting film, comics and video games — is increasingly challenging. That said, a few early breakouts have made their way to the front of the pack and generated enough buzz to stand out. Here’s a look at some of the early trends from San Diego’s annual pop culture confab.
Amazon Studios | In its first major presence at Comic-Con, Amazon skipped the convention floor in favor of a massive activation outside the convention center. While Jack Ryan does not debut until Aug. 31, Amazon went all out for the John Krasinski drama from Carlton Cuse. Con attendees spent hours in line in blistering heat to take part in a 15-minute interactive experience that included rappelling from a (stationary) helicopter and hurtling down a zipline. Its two-hour panel Friday afternoon didn’t disappoint, either, with a surprise screening of the Jack Ryan pilot that was met with strong buzz. The panel also delivered a wave of big news: Bright and Alien: Covenant star Noomi Rapace has joined Jack Ryan as a series regular for season two. The first preview of Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens — along with news that Oscar-winner Frances McDormand will voice God — was released. The first-look at Julia Roberts in her TV series regular debut in Sam Esmail’s (Mr. Robot) Homecoming was screened ahead of its November debut. And a season two trailer for genre play Lore earned a strong response from the assembled masses. Amazon has come a long way from last year’s low-key Tick presence at the Con with a star-studded panel that felt a lot like one a film studio would stage.
The Walking Dead | Heading into Comic-Con, nobody from the AMC zombie drama had commented about leading man Andrew Lincoln’s reported departure from the series. That all changed during Friday’s panel when the man behind Rick Grimes — the face of one of TV’s most-watched franchises — tearfully announced his official departure from the series. But that wasn’t all AMC had in store. Producers also confirmed that Alpha, the next major villain from Robert Kirkman’s comics, would debut in season nine with Samantha Morton taking on the series regular role. AMC could easily have continued to keep Lincoln’s status on the series under wraps but instead used the massive Hall H stage to give The Walking Dead‘s leading man a proper send-off, while still easing fanboy fears about the future of the series by confirming the arrival of Alpha and the Whisperers with an impressive actress to help offset Lincoln’s loss. Oh and the season nine trailer? We’re here for it.
DC Universe | What’s DC Universe? Chances are before Comic-Con, many of the subscription platform’s target audience hadn’t a clue as to what that was. But that all changed Thursday with an eye-popping, profanity-laced trailer for Titans, the first scripted drama to arrive when the platform launches (in beta) in August. DC Entertainment took over the terrace at the neighboring Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter to construct an interactive experience that featured a Harley Quinn rage room, a Swamp Thing obstacle course and a Dick Grayson escape room — all pegged to characters and series that will debut on the platform. Lines stretched two blocks for a glimpse at the activation. Throw in a heartfelt announcement from the writer and exec producer that DC Universe ordered a live-action Stargirl series based on his late sister? DC Universe, you have our attention.
Reunions, reunions and reunions | The cast of Breaking Bad reunited 10 years after its AMC premiere. Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day celebrated the 10-year anniversary of web series musical favorite Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and former Cartoon Network animated hit Star Wars: The Clone Wars had its own 10-year party. Of these, it was the third that sent attendees home the happiest with the surprise news that the series that last aired in March 2014 (on Netflix) was being revived on yet another streamer: Disney’s forthcoming service. The Internet lost its mind.
If you stream it, they will come | Syfy’s little-watched but beloved drama Z Nation is apparently a hit on Netflix — so much so that the streaming giant (which has second-window rights to the zombie drama) ordered a spinoff starring Jaime King straight to series. The news was announced at Z Nation‘s annual trek to San Diego where it continues to fly (successfully) under the radar. YouTube also made a splash at its panel, renewing Impulse for a second season after strong critical returns and 8 million viewers since its June 6 debut.
Between a rock and a hard place | Without Game of Thrones and Westworld (among other high-profile shows skipping the confab), Comic-Con should have been a coming-out party for Hulu’s highly anticipated Castle Rock. But it wasn’t so for the highly anticipated anthology from J.J. Abrams that’s based on the works of Stephen King. The drama’s activation — a quaint haunted house with elements from the yet-to-debut series — estimated a 30-minute wait that turned into three hours in the sun Friday. What’s more, Friday’s world-premiere screening generated measured response when compared with rival Amazon’s news announcements and surprise Jack Ryan screening shortly after.
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What goes up, doesn’t always actually do that | Comic-Con opened to the general public Thursday in a rocky fashion: one major bank of escalators outside of Ballroom 20 broke down. Attendees flocking to the second-biggest venue in the convention center were sent trekking across the crowded venue to a bank near Hall H — easily a 20-minute walk away — to get upstairs. It created an unnecessary logjam around a 6,000-person venue that is home to some of the biggest panels of the confab. Hours later (yes, hours) everything was up and running but it was a less than ideal start on a sweltering day.
Stay tuned to THR.com/Comic-Con for more coverage from San Diego.
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