[1:00PM PDT] – Welcome to The Walking Dead San Diego Comic-Con panel at Hall H. As it goes with these things we are running behind but I will keep you posted as we go!!
[1:05PM PDT] – Still waiting. The Walking Dead fan art is playing on the big screen while 'Thriller' fills the speakers. I'm at 34% battery and I've had nothing but coffee today. LET'S DO THIS.
[1:09PM PDT] – Here we go. The creators and directors are headed to the stage now.
[1:11PM PDT] – Chris Hardwick pulls no punches. Asks about Negan's victim. Robert Kirkman promises the wait will be worth it. I am skeptical. Scott M. Gimple says we'll see Carol and Morgan in the trailer. Trips over his words and calls Carol, Karen. It devolves into a bit where Karen is Carol's evil twin and Melissa McBride plays both. Karen wears an eyepatch obviously.
[1:16PM PDT] – Seeing images of the zombies from the new season. It's described as “half-pizza/half-burnt pizza.” Red and pull of pustules. There is also a dusty walker and one that evokes the feel of the fat zombies from the game “Left 4 Dead.”
[1:19PM PDT] – We're watching a trailer. I will try to stream-of-consciousness as much of it as I can as obviously video is banned!
[1:25PM PDT] – They forced me to close my laptop so I”m going on memory. We open on Negan”s bat. We see a footage of Glenn and Maggie then it goes through all the people lined up for Negan”s bat and what they have in the world that means something to them. We also get a look at the Colony and Morgan and Carol”s journey with them. I have no idea what”s going on in the most wonderful way” Carol says before we spin the camera around to introduce King Ezekial. A shot of Negan”s bat covered in blood. We end with his leashed tiger roaring and Negan laughing before fading to Tara and Heath hiding in the woods, fighting walkers, and generally being on the run. Tara thinks about shooting someone but knocks them out instead, fade to black.
[1:26PM PDT] – Jeffrey Dean Morgan says he's only been in 12 minutes of the show so far and he's never been stopped more in his life. People asking who Negan killed, shouting out who they think it was. He also talks about “the cast” with no hints as to who “the cast” is.
[1:29PM PDT] – Andrew Lincoln”s mom is a superfan. She told him “You gotta dig deep and get back to that place you were at the beginning of last season.” Wants Rick to get away from that place of abject fear. Says to hang in through the shitty beginning of the season, one of the biggest showdowns ever coming.
[1:30PM PDT] – Steven Yeun reads the comics and when issue 100 came out (spoilers if you don”t know) and he was like “Oh no.” But as a fan he found it to be an iconic moment. To lead up to that on the show – no matter who gets the back – but Negan will thrust the show further into a new direction.
[1:32PM PDT] – Lauren Cohan used her acute appendicitis as motivation for Maggie's medical emergency at the end of Season 6. For two days her mom was like 'You're fine, you're fine' and by the time she got to the hospital they were like 'Wow, you almost died.'
[1:34PM PDT] – Chandler Riggs really enjoying the prosthetic over the the bandage last season. It takes about an hour to put on but then it's done. With the bandage it had to be readjusted after every take because they needed to see Riggs' eyebrow so he could still be expressive. Riggs laments his lack of depth perception. Says Norman Reedus would tap him on the other shoulder just to mess with him.
[1:38PM PDT] – Danai Gurira first thought Rick and Michonne might get together was during the run on the jail to find ammo but there was none. On set that day, the crew all turned to Scott Gimple and were like “Are they going to get together?” It took a long time to happen because Michonne has to respect the man she”s with.
[1:40PM PDT] – Norman Reedus and Andrew Lincoln talk about their escalating prank war. Reedus filled Lincoln's car with glitter in the A/C unit and got video of it. Lincoln even went home and vacuum it out for 20 minutes, got back in the car, and BAMF! More glitter.
[1:41PM PDT] – Lincoln just glitter-bombed Reedus on stage! But it backfired and a bunch of it ended up in Lincoln's beard. He looks like he did something dirty with Tinkerbell.
[1:44PM PDT] – This is the first SDCC for Josh McDermitt and he”s seen a bunch of Eugene cosplays. “I understand,” he says, “maybe you don”t have the body for Daryl.” Audience laughs and groans. McDermitt has seen some female Eugene”s though and now he”s confused because he kind of wants to sleep with Eugene. Talks about seeing one Eugene cosplayer who had a mini-bookshelf built into the costume to be a creeper.
[1:49PM PDT] – Sonequa Martin-Green and Michael Cudlidtz were cooped up in the car on set while she was pumping for breast-feeding and she was impressed with how much of a champ he was. Every two hours she was pumping and he would take it to the fridge in the cooler so it wouldn”t go bad in the Georgia heat. AWWWWWWWWWW.
[1:51PM PDT] – Christian Serratos talks about the importance of bringing a Latina comic book character to the small screen. It means a lot to her when Latina women come up to her and geek out about having someone that looks like them on a show like The Walking Dead.
[1:53PM PDT] – We've moved into the audience question portion of the panel. I'm at 4% battery so I'm signing off now, but thanks to everyone for reading along! But before I go, they've already pu the trailer up!