The SAN DIEGO COMIC CONVENTION (Comic-Con International) is a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation organized for charitable purposes and dedicated to creating the general public’s awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular art forms, including participation in and support of public presentations, conventions, exhibits, museums and other public outreach activities which celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and culture.
This year’s annual San Diego Comic-Con was underway from 18th to 21st July, and it was one of the biggest nerd parties of the year. Studios brought out trailers for their biggest upcoming films, comic book publishers and toy companies show off all of the new merchandise and books they’ll be releasing, and of let’s not forget the cosplay.
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Though there were some absences like Warner Bros., what we did get a good idea what the TV landscape will look like in the coming year. Networks like The CW, HBO, and TBS showed off projects like the final season of Arrow, Westworld, and Snowpiercer, while Amazon and Netflix showed off first looks at The Expanse and The Witcher.
The following contains a one-stop destination for all the biggest and best trailers from this year’s show.
Movies:
It: Chapter Two
Warner Bros. took advantage of San Diego Comic-Con’s ScareDiego event to wow attendees with footage from IT Chapter 2. A day later, the IT Chapter 2 trailer released online, promising Round Two between Pennywise and the now-adult Losers.
It: Chapter Two continues with the second half of Stephen King’s 1986 novel It, a 1,169-page monster of a book that covers two periods in the lives of a handful of people from one of King’s favorite fictional settings: Derry, Maine. Muschietti’s 2017 hit It walked through the first half, where seven Derry kids become aware of a terrible monster preying on the people of their town, and set out to fight it. The creature is a shape-changer, but it often wears the face of a dancing clown named Pennywise (played by Bill Skarsgård), because clowns are forever creepy. The kids defeat Pennywise in It and think they’re done with their shared story, but in Chapter Two, set 27 years later, they learn he’s still alive, and they have to return to Derry to fight him again.
The film arrives in theaters on September 6th.
Cats
Alright, let’s bite the bullet. The first film adaption of the long-running, record-breaking Broadway musical has arrived, and it’s an intensely surreal experience. The film consists of live human actors singing and dancing on oversized sets, meant to make them appear about the comparative size of actual housecats. And rather than using Broadway’s elaborate fur costumes, director Tom Hooper (Les Misérables, The King’s Speech) chose to use motion capture and CGI to give the performers sleek, fuzzy pelts. Please watch the trailer if you haven’t and tell me how visually startling or simply weird did you find it.
Cats will be in theaters on December 20th, 2019.
Top Gun: Maverick
Tom Cruise made a surprise appearance during Paramount Pictures’ Terminator: Dark Fate panel in Hall H to debut a trailer for his next action film, Top Gun: Maverick. The film is a direct sequel to 1986’s Top Gun, the film that helped establish Cruise as an official Hollywood star. It’s set 34 years later, with Cruise reprising his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, now a flight instructor at the Topgun, the Navy’s Fighter Weapons School at Naval Air Station Miramar. There, he’s teaching the son of his late partner, Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, who’s following in his father’s footsteps. There are plenty of callbacks to the original film in the trailer as well — Cruise on a motorcycle, playing volleyball, and of course, flying fighter jets. This trailer doesn’t show off much of the story, but let’s be honest — audiences will be going to theaters to see Cruise in action.
Top Gun: Maverick takes off on June 26th, 2020.
Terminator: Dark Fate
Well, we still didn’t get the official trailer for Tim Miller’s upcoming Terminator: Dark Fate, but he did bring a behind-the-scenes featurette that showed off plenty of new footage and action.
The Terminator “will be back” again in theatres on November 1st.
The Walking Dead Movie
At the end of the Season 9, we learned that Andrew Lincoln will head up a trilogy of films about his character, Rick Grimes. Universal announced that the first will be coming out in theatres. Beyond that, we don’t know much yet. The teaser was… well just a tease. Neither the title nor the release date is confirmed yet.
Series:
His Dark Materials
Game of Thrones has ended, so it’s time for HBO to work to assemble a lineup that will keep people coming back. And it seems they have been doing just that. One of those shows is a new fantasy series called His Dark Materials, based on the Philip Pullman’s novel series of the same name. If you’re thinking “Hey, wasn’t the Nicole Kidman starrer The Golden Compass also an adaptation of the same book?” you’re absolutely right. While the 2007 film failed to live up to box-office or fan expectations, it looks like this one has captured the spirit of the books.
A war is brewing between an authoritarian church and those who resist it. Unfortunately we don’t have a confirmed release date yet for the show’s launch, only that it’ll be released this fall.
Westworld
Speaking of HBO’s post-GoT plans, the teaser for Westworld Season 3 was released just before the Dany got stabbed by her boyfriend in the last episode. The official trailer was released at Comic-Con for the upcoming third season, and we now leave the western-themed park for a World War II-themed world. It will be interesting to see how the characters (read robots) are coping in the real world. And ofcourse, be ready for some bewildering twists in the way that will make you go completely clueless.
The season, titled The New World is scheduled to broadcast in 2020.
Watchmen
Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen is really shaping up to be HBO’s next big show. A new trailer from SDCC has premiered, which includes some of the show’s most beloved vigilante heroes like Rorschach along with a number of new costumed heroes, in an alternate United States during the Cold War. There are nods to Dr. Manhattan, and a previous class of vigilante fighters that longtime Watchmen fans will recognize.
The series will premiere in October.
Snowpiercer
Based on the 2014 film on which the remnants of humanity exist on a single massive train on a frozen Earth, TBS’s Snowpiercer will pick up a cou[le of years later, where Jennifer Connelly tries to keep a strict, class-based society in order.
The futuristic trailer is coming to TBS in the spring of 2020.
Carnival Row
In the last couple of months, we had got some teasers for Amazon Prime Video exclusive series Carnival Row. Amazon Studios brought two trailers to the Comic-Con for its Neo-Victorian fantasy series which hints at the background of the world and its two main characters, Vignette and Philo.
Carnival Row begins streaming on August 30th.
The Expanse
Another Amazon product that is coming our way with its fourth season is The Expanse. It began its life on Syfy channel back in 2015, and when that network cancelled it at the end of Season 3, Amazon picked it up. Based on the science fiction book series James S.A. Corey, The Expanse is set several centuries in the future, where humanity has colonized the solar system and broken into the three major factions: Earth, Mars and the Belters, an alliance of settlements in the asteroid belt and outer planets. The bulk of the show follows the crew of a spaceship known as the Rocitante as they find themselves in the middle of a interplanetary war.
Along with the teaser, Amazon also released an extended clip, showing off the crew of Rocitante landing on Ilus, where they’ll face some massive problems.
The show returns on December 13th.
The Man in the High Castle
Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle comes to an end with its fourth season, and they brought a brief clip from the upcoming premiere, in which Juliana Cain is shot and drops into another dimension.
The last season premieres on November 15th.
The Witcher
Swinging from Amazon to Netflix, let’s have a look at the official teaser of the ever-anticipated The Witcher. It is also confirmed that the show will be an adaptation of Andrzej Aptowski’s original books, rather than the far more popular video game series. There’s still no release date, though.
Star Trek: Pickard
The next updates are going to be treats for the fans of some particular franchises and universes. First, let’s talk about the series that has lived long and prospered. CBS showed off a full trailer for its upcoming series, Star Trek: Pickard, featuring Patrick Stewart’s older version of the character as he’s drawn out of retirement. It will take place more than 20 years after the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation which aired between 1987 and 1994, and its film sequels, Generations (1994), First Contact (1996), Insurrection (1998), and Nemesis (2002).
This new series will see several familiar faces return to reprise their roles: Jonathan Frakes as Commander William Riker, Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi, Jonatyhan Del as Hugo (a former Borg drone), and Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager.
Star Trek: Pickard will debut sometime in Spring 2020.
Star Trek: Short Treks
Alongside Pickard, CBS announced that it was bringing back its series of standalone mini Star Trek episodes, Short Treks, to CBS All Access. It would be a mini-series of six episodes. Three of them will be set on the USS Enterprise and will bring back Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), Spock (Ethan Peck), and Number One (Rebecca Romijn) from Star Trek: Discovery. The trailer shows off what looks like Spock’s first days aboard the Enterprise.
The episodes will also go beyond the characters from Discovery: two will be animated and another will be linked to the upcoming Pickard series.
Star Trek: Short Treks is coming this fall.
Arrow
Warner Bros. opted to skip the show, which is disappointing for DC fans. We didn’t get looks at upcoming DCEU projects like Wonder Woman 1984. Having said that, something we did get was a look at all the major upcoming TV shows from CW.
Arrow is coming to an end after eight years on The CW, and the network brought in a teaser for the finale. It included a retrospective for the journey that the series has gone on since it premiered way back in 2012, which is a fitting way to close out the last season and also a good overview for those wanting to get into the Arrow-verse before the last season.
Arrow’s last season premieres in October 15th.
Black Lightning
The CW’s Black Lightning returns for its third season, and we got a look at what to expect. Jefferson Pierce, aka Black Lightning wrapped up his fight against his nemesis Tobias Whale, and now turns his attention to a coming war against Markovians while his daughters are developing powers of their own.
Black Lightning Season 3 begins on October 21st.
The Flash
The sixth season of The Flash comes with a new villain for Barry Allen: Bloodwork, played by Sendhil Ramamurthy, whi gives an ominous speech about how metahumans (like Barry and his friends) are a cancer that need to wiped out.
The Flash Season 6 premieres on October 8.
Harley Quinn
DC Universe Original’s new animated series based on its antihero Harley Quinn was teased at Comic-Con. The preview showed off plenty of humour and animated action featuring the character, voiced by Big Bang Theory‘s Kaley Cuoco.
The trailer didn’t have any release date, only that it will be “coming soon”.
Supergirl
Next season, the Girl of Steel has a new foe to fight against, and it sounds harder to battle than any alien invader: social media and technology addiction. Featuring a new costume, Kara Denvers (Mellisa Benoist) along with her team of allies will square off against Leviathan. At the same time, the first half of the season will build toward the massive CW-wide “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover, which adapts the storyline in which Supergirl and The Flash died in the comics. While that is unlikely to happen on TV, that does bring the question of how they manage to outrun their destinies, and what the Arrow-verse looks like after the events of the Crisis.
Supergirl Season 5 will debut on October 6th on The CW.
Batwoman
The newest entrant in the ever-expanding Arrow-verse is the Ruby Rose starrer Batwoman. The show continues writer-producer Greg Berlanti’s run of solid superhero adaptations for the CW crowd.
The establishment of Kate Kane’s sense of integrity is the most important, and its apparent from the trailer that the show understands it. As Batwoman opens, Batman hasn’t been seen in Gotham in three years. Taking his place is The Crows, a private security firm headed by Kate’s father, out to make Gotham City feel safe when it doesn’t trust its own police force to keep a lid on crime.
Of course, it’s not just Ruby Rose’s titular character that folks are excited to see. In addition to individuals like Luke Fox ( the future Batwing) and Alice being adapted for small screen, there are tons of reasons to be geeked for the show. In case you haven’t heard, Hush, the bandaged maniac will be the main feature of the show’s first season. Better yet, we’ll get to explore his backstory too.
Batwoman premieres on October 6th on the CW.
Pennyworth
Epix’s stylish new Batman prequel series focuses on its titular hero, Alfred Pennyworth, into a dynamic character who’s worth following his own right. Series creators Bruno Heller and Danny Canon, both Gotham alums, center their creative attention on making Bruce Wayne’s future butler compelling without emphasizing his attchment to the Caped Crusader.
Now the character of Alfred that we get to see in the trailer is more akin to James Bond than the kind grandfatherly figure we have come to know from the comic books and recent film adaptations. Set in an alternate 1960s London (which sets it apart from other shows), Alfred is a young man struggling to make a life for himself after serving in the military.
The only real link to the larger Batman universe (apart from Alfred himself) are some brief encounters with Thomas Wayne (portrayed by Ben Aldridge). Though I’m glad the creators had went with less Wayne and more Pennyworth. It is Alfred’s show, after all.
Pennyworth is already released as we speak, with the pilot being premiered on July 28th and the second episode “The Landlord’s Daughter” is to be released today, August 4th.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. comes to an end with its 7th season, and while ABC didn’t bring a trailer for what’s to come when it premieres, it did bring along a look at the last four episodes of the current season.
Season 7 will debut sometime next year.
Kevin Feige was at Hall H too this year, and he had a lot to offer about the next plans for Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 4. Click the link below to know all the new Phase 4 updates (’cause MCU deserves a seperate mention):
Marvel reveals massive MCU Phase Four film and television plan
The Film Reel 