After last years writers’ strike basically decimated all TV and movie panel programming in 2024 San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) was finally able to return to a pretty normal programmed convention bringing in hundreds of hours of content throughout their four day event covering all forms of fandom. Studios again brought content for their latest TV series and movies while there was still a host of comic book panels; toy companies such as Hasbro, Jazwares, Mattel, and Hallmark presenting panels for their products; and all manner of other programming including cosplay, education, representation in industry, and everything in between. Panelists and experts come and discuss what they are excited for their fans to see and experience and panels serve as a great way for a larger group of fans to feel connected with their fandoms. With the end of the writers strike Comic-Con was able to bring the biggest and best content to Hall H and Ballroom 20 truly making the 2024 event feel as close to pre-pandemic levels as ever before.
As I mentioned on my other articles I’ve spread myself thinner in order to experience a bit more of everything so this years panel coverage is a bit limited and I found myself having only been to three panels this convention Prime Video’s The Boys and The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power and What We Do In the Shadows Farewell Tour Kick-Off. Unfortunately I missed a fe of the bigger panels I would have like to see including Alien: Romulus, Max’s The Penguin, and the Marvel panels but such is convention life and there is always next year so let’s take a look below at what I did see.
Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Panel
After 2022’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Panel and my overall enjoyment of Season 1 I was really looking forward to seeing what Prime Video would bring for Season 2 so when it was announced there would again be Friday Hall H panel I decided this was one of the few panels I wanted to attend at Comic-Con and the panel delivered.
Similar to 2022 Prime Video began 6,500 person capacity Hall H panel with a orchestral musical performance, led by Emmy® award-winning composer Bear McCreary, featuring musical highlights from the series.
The panel, moderated by Yvette Nicole Brown, featured showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay and featured over a dozen cast members which included Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Maxim Baldry, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Charles Edwards, Trystan Gravelle, Sam Hazeldine, Ema Horvath, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Megan Richards, Charlie Vickers, Benjamin Walker, and Daniel Weyman who all participated in a detailed and fun filled conversation for the anticipated second season, which is set to debut on August 29.
Building on the end of the first season the new season will see Sauron as he works build his strength and forge the Rings of Power in order to allow him to rule Middle-earth. The room was treated to a new trailer for the upcoming season which focused not only on his return, but also the creation of the Rings, of Power, while also giving fans a glimpse of creatures set to appear this season which included young Shelob, an army of Barrow-wights, Hill-troll Damrod, a Sea Worm, and even Ents. The trailer also featured the debut of oft removed character Tom Bombadil.
An orc even ended the panel by taking a selfie of the cast!
Official Description for The Rings of Power Season 2 from Prime Video:
In Season Two of The Rings of Power, Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without an army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his sinister will. Building on Season One’s epic scope and ambition, the new season plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity. Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots… as friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to fracture, the forces of good will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all… each other.The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness.
TheOneRing.net’s Middle-Earth Moot
But wait there’s more. Also returning this year to help the Season 2 hype train for Rings of Power was TheOneRing.net’s (TORn) Middle-Earth Moot. TORn, which is run by an amazing group of dedicated people, is a great place for fans of Tolkein’s works to discuss any and everything Lord of the Rings related.
The moot which returned to Venue 808 was again co-sponsored by Prime Video but unlike in 2022 where it was a well kept secret that attendees could win a cast signing this year those who were able to score a ticket to the event were encouraged to come to TORn’s booth on the show floor and attempt trivia questions in order to win a cast signing wristband.
On Thursday TORn offered fans who already had tickets to the event to come to their booth in order to win a cast signing wristband. Done in one of the most fair ways I’ve personally seen fans that made it to the TORn booth lined up and were given a chance to answer trivia questions about Lord of the Rings or Rings of Power, recite poems, or even attempt their best Gollum impersonation. Making this a priority for myself I made sure to get to the booth for their second (of three) trivia sessions. Unfortunately I flubbed my first question – who was the composer of the opening credits – which I answered Bear McCreary when it was actually Howard Shore but I redeemed myself when I came back for the final session and answered correctly that it is a Wizard that is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Similar to 2022 the moot featured free drinks (though only non-alcoholic this time) and finger food. A specific area of the space was dedicated to showcase actual costumes from the show as well as other props including the rings of power themselves. There was also a station where Rings of Power were being 3D printed at the event. Showrunners J.D. Payne, Patrick McKay, and Executive Producer Lindsey Weber, and Bear McCreary were also mingling with fans throughout the afternoon. While the cast didn’t stick around for the evening they were very pleasant when going through the autograph line letting fans talk and even get a selfie and no one really felt rushed at all during that time. The cast honestly seemed very gracious of the love of the fans and had a great time with the signing. A special shout out also goes to the people at Prime Video as Ismael Cruz Córdova was a bit late to the signing and they were able to get a few of us who were missing his signature on the poster later on. Some cast even stuck around a drop after the signing to get a few selfies with fans in attendance. Credit again needs to go to TORn and Prime Video for putting on another great event!
Props from the show
Our favorite Orc is back!
Prime Video’s The Boys
While Season 4 of Prime Video’s The Boys may have ended right before Comic-Con that didn’t stop the cast from taking the stage on Friday morning of Hall H. Moderated by cast member Jeffrey Dean Morgan the panel featured the show’s creator Eric Kripke along with much of the cast including Antony Starr, Chace Crawford, Jessie T Usher, Laz Alonso, Susan Hayward, Valorie Curry, Erin Moriarty, Claudia Doumit, Karen Fukuhara, Jack Quaid, Nathan Mitchell, Tomer Apone, and Jensen Ackles.
Official Description for The Boys from Prime Video:
The Boys is a fun and irreverent take on what happens when superheroes—who are as popular as celebrities, as influential as politicians, and as revered as gods—abuse their superpowers rather than use them for good. Intent on stopping the corrupt superheroes, The Boys, a group of vigilantes, continue their heroic quest to expose the truth about The Seven and Vought—the multibillion-dollar conglomerate that manages the superheroes and covers up their dirty secrets. It’s the seemingly powerless against the super powerful.
The panel opened with a hilarious song sung by Vought International.
As Season 5 is so fresh and they have not really begun filming it there was not much they could share on the next season and therefore the panel was a bit of a retrospective on the season with cast sharing anecdotes and stories and yes even Karen Fukuhara spoke. However that didn’t some news from coming out which included a sneak peak of season 2 of Gen V which will also include The Deep.
The other big news out of the Hall H panel was the announcement of Vought Rising,a prequel to The Boys, set in the 1950s and follows the origins of Vought, the early exploits of Soldier Boy, and the diabolical maneuvers of a Supe known to fans as Stormfront, who was then going by the name Clara Vought and starring Jensen Ackles and Aya Cash. Jensen Ackles joined the cast on-stage while Aya Cash delivered a video message to fans. Executive producer Eric Kripke notes that he cannot wait to blow the fans minds and trouble their souls with this salacious, grisly saga drenched in blood and Compound V.
What We Do In the Shadows Farewell Tour Kick-Off
The sixth and final season of What We Do In the Shadows is around the corner and so there is only one thing left to do – have a farewell tour. Executive producer/writer Paul Simms, Doll With The Spirit of Deceased Human Nadja Inhabiting It, and executive producer/director Kyle Newacheck joined Matt Berry (“Laszlo Cravensworth”), Mark Proksch (“Colin Robinson”), Kristen Schaal (“The Guide”) along with Kayvan Novak (“Nandor the Relentless”) via zoom to lively conversation about their time on the show and to help usher in the final season with a special screening of the last season’s first episode.
