Day 2 of San Diego Comic Con is upon us and today was all about Marvel Adventures in Galaxies Far Far Away … and a couple of dead guys. But fear not, there’s also some drinks to be had as well – you’ll see! So did you catch up on Day 1 (Thursday’s) Highlights? Good! Because not it’s time to get Friday’s SDCC Highlights underway!
AMC Panels – The Walking Dead & Fear The Walking Dead:
While The Walking Dead is entering its Sixth Season its kind-of-prequel Fear The Walking Dead is entering its first. And BOTH were discussed and previewed today in Hall H! Now I’ve already analyzed both trailers, but it is important to say that AMC’s really kicked it up this time with both series.
In The Walking Dead Trailer we see how new dangers are quickly approaching the residents Alexandria, but will problems within the community destroy them first? Though it was the Fear The Walking Dead Trailer that really impressed! While The Walking Dead is all about finding order from Chaos, Fear The Walking Dead is all about that order crumbling into Chaos. For a full analysis of those Trailers, check out the linked articles.
Archer Panel:
The Archer panel and cast came out as funny as ever, but there’s one big thing on everyone’s mind: WHATS UP FOR NEXT SEASON?!?!?! With Archer and the gang completely out of the spy business, what does next season mean? More Archer Vice? Well no.
Creator Adam Reed apologized for not being able to show any footage or premier epiodes due to them completely revamping Archer. This isn’t to be confused with a “Reboot”, but rather a simple refresh to make things “more sexy and dangerous than ever!” … Or just as sexy and dangerous he added. Either way, it’s going to be good … or the same. Which is just fine with us!
Assassins Creed Syndicate:
You wouldn’t expect SDCC to also be a stage for some Video Games, but with a film coming out next year and a new game due out, Assassins Creed has proven itself to be worthy of the stage. The panel might not have dealt much in next years film, but it did give us a sit down with AC: Syndicate’s Creative Director Marc-Alexis Côté as well as Victoria Atkin and Paul Roger Amos, who provide the voices for Evie and Jacob Frye. Also present was Dierector F. Gary Gray and artist Pop Mhan who worked on a special animated short for the upcoming game. Once SDCC is over I’ll work on an AC: Syndicate Mega Article , but for now, enjoy The Syndicate!
Game Of Thrones Panel:
The Game Of Thrones Panel was dark and full of … well not that full of answers. BUT there were a lot of laughs – especially thanks to Conleth Hill (Varys). From the cast – except Gwendoline Christie (Brienne) – admitting that they never read the books to them name calling each other, there were a lot of inside jokes. Not much was given on next Season – sorry, no Snow updates – but now that the show has caught up with the books, we were assured that George RR Martin would still be just as involved in the series… which is either good news or frightening news – or both!
With much of the cast not knowing what’s coming next season yet, they could only hypothesize what’s in store for their characters. Natalie Dormer (Margaery) is still in that cell and is probably in for something awful. Liam Cunningham (Davos) is most likely going to be very pissed when he learns what Melisandre did. Though the greatest revelation had to be Director David Nutter revealing that President Obama yelled at him for killing Jon Snow – AS WOULD WE ALL!!!!!!! Game of Thrones returns to HBO … eventually. So to help you through that long wait, here’s the FULL Panel so you can watch and enjoy for yourself!
Lucasfilm/Star Wars Panel:
One of the most well-guarded secrets of this day was the Lucasfilm/Star Wars Panel. With J.J. Abrams (Director), Kathleen Kennedy (Producer) and Lawrence Kasdan (writer) there you knew we’d get some important answers on the next film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Though the most important questions aren’t about ‘what happens’ or ‘how did this feel’; but rather questions to put aside fan fears. Will the new trilogy be as lackluster as the ‘prequel trilogy’? Well as it turns out, these ARE the films we’re looking for!
Abrams assured fans that they aren’t going to simply ‘reference’ the original trilogy with set pieces, but actually do everything possible to reignite those feelings as well. Along the same vein, he says that many of the creatures are back to puppets – or rather massive mechanical creatures. Sure you can’t avoid CGI all together – because its space – but every opportunity was taken to make this film as real-looking – and feeling – as possible, which is AMAZING news!
Also revealed was that the film is finished filming and is now in editing stages. One version of the film does exist, but a little more work is going to be done before the version is finalized. Though just because this project is nearing completion, it doesn’t mean that they’ll all take off the rest of the year as Gareth Edwards will begin filming one of the Spin-Off films, Rogue One in several weeks.
After some footage was shown the cast – Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Issac, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, and Gwendoline Christie (in full armor) – were brought out for some questions about their experiences and what it was like to work with much of the original cast. Speaking of which, the footage featured a lot of the original cast explaining what it’s like to be back and how everything’s been coming together. To see these cutting edge techniques being used with pre-digital engineering is simply amazing! Oh God, THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME!!!!!! Is it December yet? Because Star Wars: The Force Awakens arrives in theaters December 18th. But until then, enjoy the screened footage I talked about above!
Marvel TV Panel:
Marvel Studios might not be present at SDCC this year, but Marvel TV came to play with both Agent Carter and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Both shows came with a ‘look back’ at their previous seasons, while also dropping some hints about the upcoming ones. Agent Carter it seems will pick up 6 months after the first Season ended and will find Peggy and Jarvis heading to LA for a string of unsolvable cases. It’s also important to note that IF Agent Carter wants to keep continuity with it’s Marvel One-Shot by the same name, the 6 month time jump does make it possible.
As for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. we also got a funny short video of Jed Whedon throwing darts to decide who was going to die next – not surprised – and joking that Simmons was next. While that’s NOT at all funny the short then ended with Anthony Mackie interrupting with donuts. Does this mean a Falcon cameo in Season 3? I certainly hope so! Though the biggest news here was that the Season 3 villain will be Lash, an Inhuman with a crazy superiority complex. He’s basically the Inhuman-beast version of Ronan The Accuser and feels only ‘pure bloods’ should be Inhuman – which is sure to place him and Skye on opposite ends of the battlefield in a big way. So stay tuned for more on this!
To The Villains Pub:
How It Should Have Ended has brought us tons of laughs over the year; but then they started something new. Whereas Batman and Superman would always chat with their movie stars in the Super Café, a darker location was brewing … and I mean BREWING! The Villains Pub! A place where everyone drinks with “he who shall not be named” while hearing stories about how some guy ‘got these scars’ and the Dark Lord of the Sith serves you your drink!
Sounds like a great place right? Well HISHE actually set up an actual Villains Pub at Henry’s Pub on 5th Ave for SDCC! There are a bunch of events planned there each night, but Friday’s would be the most villainous of them all as prizes were given away during Happy Hour for best Villain Costume! All I can say is, we need a year round Villains Pub – or they should at least visit NYC for NYCC! *crosses fingers*
Additional Highlights:
Find Day 2 (Friday) Highlights Here
Find Day 3 (Saturday) Highlights Here
*Special Thanks to Nerdist, StarWars.com, Flicks And The City, Access The Animus, The Geek Mafia, How It Should Have Ended and many others for helping me be in multiple places at once*
The Insightful Panda 