So that was Comic-Con 2019. It was perhaps a little quieter in terms of big news than in some previous years, with several big studios opting to skip or stick to their own events outside the main conventions, but there was plenty to get fans excited. This was the year when cinematic telly really stepped up, and streaming services found their genre groove. Plus there was the usual behemoth to generate several truckloads' worth of excitement. Here's Empire's guide to the bigger news.
Marvel's Phase 4 (and beyond) dominated
Look, it was always going to be an event. When Marvel comes to Comic-Con, Kevin Feige and the gang don't mess around. Their presentations have become don't-miss spectacles with casting reveals and celebrities galore. Despite a few pre-event leaks and announcements this year, there was plenty of new to learn about the company's plans for Phase 4 across the next couple of years – and a few surprises, including Natalie Portman as a new Thor and Mahershala Ali playing a rebooted Blade (sorry Wesley Snipes). We covered it all in our massive wrap-up here.
Star Trek: Picard had big news and a new trailer
The movie version might be stuck in spacedock (or venturing towards Quentin Tarantino-helmed new frontiers), but the small screen incarnation Star Trek is warping at full speed. Most exciting at this point is the series starring Patrick Stewart as his iconic Star Trek: The Next Generation character, Jean-Luc Picard. Star Trek: Picard catches up with him later in life, having left Starfleet behind, but itching for a new adventure and with unresolved issues in his past. Cue a new crew and some familiar faces, with old TNG shipmates Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis announced as showing up, plus Star Star Trek: Voyager's Jeri Ryan. Our James Dyer is still glowing. The show should be on CBS Access in the US and comes to Amazon Prime here in early 2020. US folk can find their version of the trailer here.
Elsewhere on the Trek front, Discovery goes from strength to strength, with a third season due next year and at least one new piece of casting in the shape of David Ajala's Cleveland Booker. The story will find the crew 1,000 years in the future, after going through a wormhole at the end of Season 2.
Also announced? More Short Treks episodes, with six stand-alone stories set to feature the likes of Pike and Spock, plus Tribbles, a couple of animated adventures and something leading into Picard.
Finally, there was Lower Decks, the comedic, cartoon take on the Trek universe. The voice cast includes Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Jerry O'Connell, Fred Tatasciore, Dawnn Lewis and Gillian Vigman. The first 10 episodes will launch next year.
Tom Cruise dropped in with a Top Gun: Maverick trailer
It might not sound like a Comic-Con-friendly title, but Top Gun's sequel has a secret weapon: laser beams! Sorry, Tom Cruise. Which is almost the same thing. Cruise made a return to the Hall H stage in a surprise appearance at the end of the Terminator: Dark Fate panel (more on that in a moment) to declare how excited he was to be back in San Diego (where a lot of the original and the new movie were filmed) and show off the trailer for Top Gun: Maverick. Which did not disappoint, blending nostalgia with a look to the future and a focus on Cruise's Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, still flying high after all these years. The movie's not due until next summer, but the anticipation levels way above the hard deck.
Terminator: Dark Fate revealed a returning character
Director Tim Miller had Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davies and the rest of the main cast for Terminator: Dark Fate (plus producer James Cameron via video message), but the real talk covered several subjects. Miller revealed that Edward Furlong will be back in some fashion as John Connor. The movie will be R-rated and everyone save Arnie will be dropping F-bombs to go with the real grenades and bullets.
It: Chapter Two launched an intense new Trailer
Director Andy Muschietti and his It: Chapter Two team skipped the main convention centre, setting up shop in a ScareDiego presentation in the city's Gaslamp district the first night. We got a brand new look at the horror movie, with the latest trailer and a couple of new scenes. You can find the trailer above, and the film itself arrives on 6 September.
Kevin Smith went back to past glories
Writer/director/raconteur Kevin Smith is a Comic-Con mainstay, usually to be found offering one of his anecdote-packed, rambling Q&A sessions in Hall H. This year he also had a new film to tease, as he revisits the "View Askewniverse" that kicked off his career. The trailer for Jay And Silent Bob Reboot actually arrived a couple of days before the panel, but Smith didn't disappoint on the day.
The Walking Dead expanded its zombie reach
The Walking Dead has become a regular player at Comic-Con, the zombie apocalypse show's vast viewership meaning it quickly graduated to big Hall H presentations. This year there was even more news than just the usual smattering of new casting (Thora Birch and Kevin Carroll are joining the main show) and teasers for future episodes. The franchise is expanding again for a new, third, as-yet-untitled show and it was announced that the movies following departed star Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes will be shown in cinemas, a big step for the team.
Henry Cavill battled monsters in The Witcher teaser
A fantasy series adapted from books that have also become bestselling video games? Starring Henry Cavill? Pure Comic-Con catnip. Cavill explained how he badgered the producers until he got the role of Geralt of Rivia and cued up a teaser for the series, which shows all the magic and monsters you could want.
Watchmen's new trailer offered fresh insights
Watchmen was another of those series that didn't have a panel presence at the event, choosing to promote itself via an "activation", or photo-booth. But there was a new trailer, which delved a little deeper into the world of The Leftovers producer Damon Lindelof's latest show. Set in the universe of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen, but not a direct adaptation, this channels the spirit of the graphic novel, but is more interested in the fallout from the its events and where some of the characters (yes, that's Dr. Manhattan).
Westworld looked to a new world
As seems normal for Westworld, there was little real news about what we can expect when Season 3 rolls around in 2020. But the likes of show-runners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy plus cast members Thandie Newton, Aaron Paul, Tessa Thompson, Evan Rachel Wood, and Jeffrey Wright did muse on AI and how their characters are reacting to new situations in the next run of episodes. The trailer also played, showing Wood's Dolores in the real world and Newton's Maeve battling Nazis in a World War II-themed sector of the Westworld park.
His Dark Materials delivered a new trailer
Given that the new, TV adaptation of Philip Pullman's books hails from both the Beeb and HBO, it was natural that it would go big. And since the cast features the likes of Lin-Manuel Miranda, James McAvoy and Ruth Wilson, you could've predicted that the panel would be raucous. The latest trailer certainly gave a proper look at the show, and drummed up plenty of excitement.
The Expanse rocketed to its next mission
Sci-fi series The Expanse was saved from a quick trip out of the cancellation airlock by Amazon this year, and with Season 4 of the show targeting a December premiere date, the cast and producers hit the Con to thank fans and show off a trailer. It's good to have the crew of the Rocinante back.
The Snowpiercer TV adaptation trundled in
Adapted from Bong Joon-Ho's 2013 sci-fi film, Snowpiercer has had its own difficult journey to the screen. A story of the world in the years since an experiment to reverse global warming has led to a frozen, destroyed planet, it finds the remains of humanity crammed on to a train. Like the train, we can expect class animosity to ferment, mutiny to grow and a real clash to start. The cast includes Jennifer Connelly, Daveed Diggs, Alison Wright, Mickey Sumner, Susan Park, Iddo Goldberg, Katie McGuinness, Lena Hall, Annalise Basso and Sam Otto. And the trailer premiered, which you can find above.
Carnival Row explored its lead characters
The long-gestating fantasy project was once a movie script by Pacific Rim's Travis Beacham (he's still involved), the Amazon show had put out a couple of teasers before the event. Two new featurettes introduce the characters played by Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne, a human and a faerie caught in a political battle between people and magic creatures, with issues of immigration, race and hatred boiling over. The show itself debuts on 30 August.