San Diego Comic-Con happened this past weekend, and announcements for everything from movies, to TV, to comics were made.
Even excluding the news we’ve covered in other articles, which include a full Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 4 roundup, a lot happened at the show. Here are some of the biggest highlights we found:
First off, Edward Furlong’s John Connor is returning in Terminator: Dark Fate, all the way from Terminator 2. The announcement comes from the producing James Cameron via satellite, as he is currently in New Zealand working on the Avatar sequels. Furlong hasn’t been doing much acting on account of drug abuse and arrests, so we’ll have to see how this works out. Regardless, it was also announced that Dark Fate will return to the series’ R-rated roots.
A Top Gun: Maverick trailer was unveiled by way of a surprise appearance by Tom Cruise. This came at the tail end of the Paramount panel, despite there being no mention of Cruise showing up beforehand. We don’t know much about the film either, but apparently it’s going to explore the modern automated age and the “end of the era of dogfighting”. The film stars Cruise as Maverick, who is now a flight instructor that takes Bradley Bradshaw (played by Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s late partner Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, under his wing.
The Jay and Silent Bob reboot got a trailer, and from my understanding, what’s old is new again. The iconic stoner duo are off once more to stop Hollywood from cashing in on their likeness. The movie will be arriving in theatres on October 15th.
The His Dark Materials show received a trailer for its first season, adapting the classic Phillip Pullman book series into a more appropriate form than the failed 2007 film adaptation. The cast includes James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Logan breakout star Daphne Keen in the star role as Lyra. It’s coming out late 2019, and may or may not be toning down some of the more anti-Catholic elements of the original.
Next up is IT Chapter 2 with a final trailer before it’s let loose on September 6th. James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Jay Ryan, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, James Ransone, and Andy Bean will take on adult roles to defeat Pennywise for good, while Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Wyatt Oleff all return to play their respective younger selves. In a sea of Stephen King adaptations, this stands out as one of his better known works, so hopefully it succeeds in remaking the classic story.
After that, Netflix’s The Witcher series got a reveal trailer, showing Henry Cavill as the country and world-hopping Geralt of Rivia. It’s based on the books, not the games, but I’ve heard tell that there will be a bathing scene, so fans of CD Projekt’s games won’t be left high and dry. It’s coming out later this year, which is coded language for “actually pretty soon”.
Rick & Morty season 4 got a bit of footage, and it was revealed that Taika Waititi would be playing a character. Season 4 will be 10 episodes long, and, uh… that’s it. Do I really need to say anything else? It’s Rick & Morty. You’re probably current on the show. You’ve probably seen this footage. When it drops in November, you’ll be all over it. Let’s move on to something you don’t already know everything about.
That something being the Amazon original show, Carnival Row. It concerns racial tensions between humans and fae creatures, and received a pair of trailers for its troubles. It’s set to premiere on Amazon Prime on 30 August, so take a look and see if there’s anything you like.
Returning to comic-related news, The Watchmen’s upcoming HBO series got a trailer. It is being penned by Damon Lindelof who became famous for Lost, and then went on to write other critically acclaimed things that didn’t end so poorly. Watchmen will star Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Jean Smart, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Hong Chau, Andrew Howard, Tom Mison, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, and James Wolk. It was revealed that the show will premiere sometime in October, so we won’t have to wait long to see it. Also, series creator and comic book legend Alan Moore just retired out of exasperation that his works keep getting adapted. Is entertainment media inundated with too many recycled ideas and pointless live-action adaptations? Noooo, surely not.
Speaking of recycled, Star Trek: Picard got a trailer with a bunch of familiar faces. Sir Patrick Steward returns once again as Jean-Luc Picard, the beloved Starfleet captain from Star Trek: The Next Generation. This web television series will take place 20 years after Star Trek: Nemesis, the 2002 feature film which marked the last time we saw Picard on-screen. Stewart will be joined in the show by Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Marina Sirtis, Jeri Ryan, and Jonathan del Arco reprising their classic respective roles as William Riker, Data, Deanna Troi, Seven of Nine, and Hugh Borg, as well as a host of newer actors and characters.
After that, Westworld season 3 procured a trailer, and it’s apparently got some hard-hitting reveals in it already. The show will be dropping some time in 2020 from HBO, and if you can’t wait that long, hopefully this will tide you over.
There’s a Harley Quinn animated series on the way, and it’s got a zany trailer to introduce itself. Kaley Cuoco takes up the role of Harley, Alan Tudyk plays the Joker, and Diedrich Bader steps in to voice Batman himself. The show seems to be leaning towards the less mature “mature” side of humour, so check out the trailer to see if it’s for you.
The Russo brothers held a panel where they talked about a couple of their upcoming non-superhero films. They’ll be working with Spider-Man actor Tom Holland as the directors for a new drug drama titled Cherry, and are producing the upcoming cop thriller 21 Bridges starring Black Panther’s Chadwick Boseman. Seems like those MCU connections are serving them well, at any rate. 21 Bridges received a new trailer during the panel, and the film will feature the directorial debut of Brad Kirk, as well as the star-studded cast of J. K. Simmons, Sienna Miller, Taylor Kitsch, Stephan James, and Keith David.
Those are all the highlights I could find. There’s a heck of a lot more news spilling out of San Diego Comic-Con than what is featured here, but you can look elsewhere for that if you wish. The entertainment industry is going strong even with the relative absence of some regular exhibitors this year, and there’s a lot to look forward to, even things dropping as early as next month. Now if you’ll excuse me, I feel like I’ve been staring directly at the sun for the past two hours, and must now go do anything else. Happy trails!
