Day 2 of Comic-Con International: San Diego began with cloud cover, humidity, and heat — the perfect sort of weather to hide in Hall H and welcome television series like Blade Runner 2099, Lanterns, and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. But that’s just a few of the goings on at SDCC today, so let’s dive into some of the fun as Friday burns with the power of Mount Doom and Green Lantern’s light.
Read: Day 1
The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power Returns For War And The One Ring
After a long absence, Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power returns this fall. And in a case of art imitating life, the story picks up five years after the conclusion of season 2. In the interim, Sauron (Charlie Vickers) has declared himself openly and is engaged in a protracted war with the Elves. He also seeks the knowledge to create the single most important piece of jewelry ever made.
As co-showrunner J.D. Payne put it during the presentation, “Sauron has been spreading his armies across Middle-earth. You have the Elven realms of Lindon and Rivendell. The Dwarven realm has been neutral. Sauron is giving his [nine] rings out. He is trying to recruit a massive army from Rhûn [in the East]. And he’s going to forge the One Ring to rule them all.”
Joining Payne on stage were co-showrunner Patrick McKay, Vickers, and fellow stars Benjamin Walker, who plays High King Gil-Galad and moderated the panel, Daniel Weyman (Gandalf), Owain Arthur (Durin IV), Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Míriel), Ismael Cruz Córdova (Arondir), and Jamie Campbell Bower – newly revealed in recent days as Galadriel’s (Morfydd Clark) long-lost husband, Celeborn.
“The reunion is deeply impactful,” he said of the couple. “The memory [of their life before] and the hope of their reunion has been keeping him alive. And with the distance and time between them, they have a lot to catch up on. And with Sauron … he uses what’s closest to you against you.”
Other new elements for season 3: the first ever look inside Sauron’s Dark Tower; fell beasts in Mordor and Mumakil in Rhûn; and a meeting between the eventual Lord of the Rings and the Balrog deep in Khazad-dûm. He even speaks, but more on that in a moment.
“It was an absolute joy for me to spend time in Barad-dûr,” Vickers said. The trailer shown during the panel, later made available online, also indicates Sauron is ready to rule in Mordor and is dressing the part. But when Rotten Tomatoes asked him about trading in the character’s “fair form” for a full suit of armor, he indicated a hope that it will not happen for some time yet.
His meeting with the Balrog, though, was something of a legit surprise to the Tolkien fans in the audience. For one thing: the being of shadow and flame will talk to Sauron with the voice of Simon Pegg.
“Creatures in Tolkien talk,” McKay said of the decision to give the Balrog lines. “He isn’t just a monster. He’s a character in this show and we want to show new facets of him every year. And we’re crazy enough to think he should have a scene with Sauron. Balrogs know how to live in fire and survive. Sauron might need to know that dark magic. So, he goes to learn this power.”
Another introduction for the year: the Nazgûl. They are the men to whom Sauron gifts the Nine rings, but at this point they are still fully human and not so wraith-like. They remain terrifying, though, as they appeared on stage and attempted to find Walker’s elven ring.
Elsewhere in Arda (Tolkien’s name for the world), Queen-in-Exile Míriel builds an army to depose her cousin, the self-proclaimed king of Númenor. Durin carries on as king in Khazad-dûm, but as Arthur put it, “There’s a bunch of dwarf-lords who want some rings… so I’ve hidden them,” and his brother re-enters the picture — will he disrupt Durin’s marriage? Lastly, Arondir continues to fight alongside the northern elves, which leads him to a dangerous secret mission with Galadriel which brings them into contact with an Orc named Marnukh (Adam Young). He claims to want the end of Sauron, but can he be trusted?
Then there’s the issue of the Ruling Ring.
“The forging of the Ring will be unhinged. Evil cannot create, it can only corrupt. Sauron has to spend the season learning how to forge the Ring,” Payne said. “He’ll be in the Cracks of Doom and he has to survive in the inferno. It’s a 15-minute sequence and it takes everything Charlie has.”
As the trailer proves, all of the characters will have to cross their limits to either stop or aid Sauron.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power returns for its third season on Prime Video on November 11.
Blade Runner 2099 Introduces “Sunshine Noir”
The tale of replicants continues with Blade Runner 2099. They now run Los Angeles and humans are the underclass. The 8-episode limited series features Michelle Yeoh as a replicant on a clock and Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer as Cora – a human hiding among the replicants with a mission of her own to protect a young life. According to moderator Josh Horowitz, it’s “super cool.”
Joining him on stage were Yeoh, Schafer, showrunner Silka Luisa, and executive producers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove. As the latter put it, now was right time for a Blade Runner series as “[the original movie] becomes more relevant over time. To explore the ideas and what it really means to be human seemed incredibly relevant.”
Luisa added, “It’s such a beautiful idea that it may not be humans who teach us what humanity is.” She also noted the “unsettling tone” of the film and its sequel, Blade Runner 2049, which carries into the series.
Throughout the panel, the producers jokingly referred to Yeoh as an “up-and-coming” actor, which thrilled her to no end. But she was also thrilled to take the part, looking back at Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty as a touchstone for playing an artificial lifeform. “The opportunity to play a character who isn’t human… I’m grateful for this. And being an up-and-coming actor, I hope I have your support,” she said.
Schafer, meanwhile, admitted she didn’t say yes to her part at first. As she explained, “Television is a lot. This is one of the most intense jobs I’ve ever done. But I’m so thankful I said yes.”
Yeoh added that she became protective of Schafer, even going so far as to buy her some safety equipment after a certain stunt. Luisa said the dynamic between the two actors was essential to the story she set out to tell.
“Once we had Michelle, we knew we need a counterweight,” she explained. “Cora is the human heart of the show.”
The panel also featured a first look at a teaser and a scene in which Yeoh’s Olwen confronts Cora about her lack of fear when encountering a human infant — the equivalent, it seems, of the old Voight-Kampf empathy test.
“The franchise as a whole is a beautiful meditation on [empathy],” Schafer said. “It’s a strength and weakness at the same time, depending on the context. But having worked on this, I’m nicer to robots now.”
The footage also revealed a new twist on Blade Runner’s visual sensibility: sunlight. While Kosove dubbed the new look “sunshine noir,” Luisa went deeper into the thinking behind it.
“Our show is a rebirth: of a city, of our characters. And I thought it should be sticky and chaotic. You’re seeing Ridley’s Blade Runner through harsh sunlight,” she explained. She also suggested the story may leave Los Angeles for new locales.
“We get to explore more of downtown LA,” Johnson added. “Other time frames and a mystery you unpeel like an onion until these two characters finally come to a head.”
According to Luisa, that relationship is the thing she’s most excited to share with viewers. “We have flying cars, but they are the magic of the show,” she said.
Blade Runner 2099 debuts November 25 on Prime Video.
Lanterns Shines Bright In Hall H
Like Peacemaker last year, DC Studios’ television efforts led the charge at SDCC. Case in point: Lanterns took a bow to an appreciative crowd of Green Lantern fans. HBO also took the occasion to release a new trailer that offers a better look at the journey Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) will take. It involves Manhunters: a term that will give shivers to lore-obsessed DC Comics fans. Additionally, the preview does a much better job establishing the tension between the two space cops and their latest case in heartland America.
And then there’s that moment with legendary Green Lantern foe Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen)…
Back in Hall H, though, Chandler, Pierre, and fellow Lantern Nathan Fillion led the crowd in reciting the GL oath (also featured in the trailer). It is also a Comic-Con tradition going back as far as the Green Latnern: First Flight animated film and, no doubt, panels devoted to the comic book itself. Pierre even had part of the oath printed on his jacket, which matched his GL-themed kicks. All of it a step up from Fillion’s “Best Gardner Ever” t-shirt.
Bringing John Stewart — a favorite Lantern of those who grew up watching him on the Justice League animated series — was no easy task for Pierre, but he told the audience that he found something special in the character: “The thing I love most about John is that he inspires me. His courage, ambition, and grit is something I aspire to.
Other surprises included Fillion’s presence, even if it was a total Guy thing to do, and the revelation that Laura Linney plays a Guardian of the Universe — Hal and John’ nominal boss.
Lanterns debuts August 16 on HBO.
The Vampire Lestat Confirms A Queen Of The Damned
During a celebratory panel with stars Jacob Anderson, Assad Zaman, Eric Bogosian, and Sheila Atim — and executive producers Mark Johnson and Hannah Moscovitch — all involved revealed the overall Interview with the Vampire series will continue for a fourth season to be titled Queen of the Damned in honor of the next book in Anne Rice’s vampire cycle following The Vampire Lestat.
AMC even released a short teaser for the upcoming season.
And The Walkers Return…
Of course, SDCC is a place where so much happens that it’s impossible to see it all. Elsewhere in the convention center, CBS’s Ghosts celebrated its five years so far and held a screening of the producers’ new sitcom, the vampire-focused Eternally Yours. Speaking of screenings, plenty of Fire Nation cosplayers were treated to a screening of the feature film Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender. Guillemro del Toro reiterated his stance against AI while celebrating the 20th anniversary of Pan’s Labyrinth. And at press time, Spaceballs revealed further details of its upcoming sequel.
Also, The Walking Dead: Dead City returned to Hall H to preview the new season, extending an almost annual tradition started by The Walking Dead a long time ago. Stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan — along with castmembers Aimee Garcia and Raúl Castillo, executive producer Scott M. Gimple, and executive producer/showrunner Seth Hoffman — offered the Walking Dead faithful a sneak peak at what’s to come. Will Maggie and Negan’s past undo all they’ve accomplished in making Manhattan a community, to say nothing of the uneasy peace between each other?
Television definitely ruled Friday at Comic-Con, but Marvel Studios may yet win the entire show on Saturday if it can generate a surprise as big as Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom reveal two years ago.