San Diego Comic-Con is packed with enticing previews, covering all manner of exciting pop culture on the way in the next year. Below, EW has picked out the top 10 things we’re most excited about at this year’s con. From a star-studded horror anthology to a superhero prequel to the return of not one but two franchise icons to their signature roles, there’s bound to be something you’re hyped for included herein. Onward!
1. Terminator: Dark Fate
Kerry Brown/Skydance Productions/Paramount Pictures
Tim Miller knows moviegoers are skeptical of a sixth entry in the Terminator franchise, but the director is urging fans to tap their feelings about the 1984 original and 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day. “It’s really a sequel to those first two stories,” says Miller, who adds that the previous sequels will have no bearing on Dark Fate, out Nov. 1. In a series that often explores the future, the filmmakers looked to the past. “I never saw this coming,” admits Linda Hamilton, who stars as heroine Sarah Connor for the first time in 28 years. “I wanted to see how events have changed her and sent her forward.” —Derek Lawrence
2. Pennyworth
What kind of life prepares you to be Batman’s butler? Epix’s Pennyworth, debuting July 28, aims to reveal to viewers how young Alfred (Jack Bannon) built a life for himself with the help of Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge). “Thomas is very much a guy behind a desk who doesn’t want to get his hands dirty, and Alfred can do that,” Bannon says. “Alfred needs money to get his business off the ground, and Thomas has that, but Alfred realizes Thomas has his own agenda.” —Christian Holub
3. No One Left to Fight
Fico Ossio for Dark Horse
Dragon Ball Z, one of the all-time most popular anime shows among American audiences, is an epic saga about using martial arts to save the world from aliens and monsters. In their new DBZ-inspired comic, No One Left to Fight (which debuted July 3), co-creators Aubrey Sitterson and Fico Ossio ask: So, what happens after you’ve saved the world? For the series’ protagonist Vale, one of the first steps is coming to terms with his own popularity. “He’s a guy whose life has been consumed by training and fighting,” Sitterson says. “He saved the world, and then he went off on a walkabout, and meanwhile life has gone on. All these people remember him, and he is taken aback by this crowd of people just wanting to see him and touch him.” —Christian Holub
4. Snowpiercer
All aboard! TBS’ Snowpiercer, due spring 2020, is set in a near-future world that has frozen over as the result of a disastrous attempt to solve climate change. The only survivors are living on the titular globe-circumnavigating train, a few thousand folks segregated by social class. “Some are ticketed billionaires, some are the medics and police,” says director James Hawes (Black Mirror), who oversaw three of the first season’s 10 episodes. “Others are those who boarded by force.” Jennifer Connelly plays Melanie Cavill, the head of hospitality who lives at the front of the train, while Daveed Diggs is Andre Layton, a low-class “Tailie” who is recruited by the vehicle’s rulers to find a serial killer.
The TV show version of Snowpiercer is based on a series of French graphic novels and on director Bong Joon-Ho’s much-loved 2014 big-screen adaptation, which starred Chris Evans, Octavia Spencer, and Tilda Swinton. While none of the characters from the movie are exactly replicated on the TV series, there are Easter egg echoes of them. These include the north-of-England accent adopted by Alison Wright (The Americans) to play hospitality department employee Ruth. “My character has some of the qualities of the character that Tilda Swinton played,” says the actress. “[The accent] was a fun little nod to what Tilda did in the film.” —Clark Collis
5. Creepshow
Inspired by director George A. Romero’s beloved Stephen King-written 1982 film, Shudder’s horror anthology — arriving later this year — boasts an eclectic cast, including David Arquette, Kid Cudi, and Lucifer’s Tricia Helfer. “She plays a strong executive in this supernatural situation she can’t control,” showrunner Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead) says of the latter. —Clark Collis
6. Star Trek: Picard
Has it really been almost 17 years? Patrick Stewart is returning to Star Trek to reprise his role as the beloved Jean-Luc Picard — his first appearance as the character since the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis. CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Picard, out later this year, focuses on the former Starfleet captain nearly 15 years after he led a doomed rescue mission to the planet Romulus. “There are many things that haunt Picard, but you will not see a version that betrays the man we loved from Next Generation,” executive producer Alex Kurtzman assures. Producers add that Stewart brings a new level of intensity to his iconic role. “The quality of Patrick’s acting has gotten even better,” showrunner Michael Chabon says. “He can hold you riveted even when he’s just sitting and listening.” —James Hibberd
7. Westworld
Westworld 3.0, due in 2020, is the most radical series upgrade yet to HBO’s robo-rebellion drama. With the hosts, led by Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood), having secretly invaded the real world, the dusty Wild West theme park is largely left behind and replaced by a near-future Los Angeles, as new cast members (like Aaron Paul) join. “I love shows that find a groove and hang with it for 100 episodes — that was never this show,” co-showrunner Jonathan Nolan says. The hosts will experience culture shock as they discover that the outside world isn’t quite what they expect…particularly for Dolores when she meets Paul’s Caleb, a regular-guy construction worker, “an honest-to-goodness regular ol’ human being,” Nolan says. —James Hibberd
8. Carnival Row
It may be a fantasy starring Orlando Bloom, but Tolkien, it ain’t: Amazon’s Carnival Row (premiering Aug. 30) is set in a steampunky Victorian London-esque city where mythical creatures live as refugees, having fled their war-torn homeland — to the displeasure of the human inhabitants. “It’s a fantasy story, but with the social awareness of a sci-fi story,” co-creator Travis Beacham says. There’s also a murder mystery, political intrigue, and smoldering faerie-human romance between Cara Delevingne and Bloom (no pointy ears for the erstwhile Legolas on this one). —Tyler Aquilina
9. The Witcher
Netflix has your post–Game of Thrones epic adult fantasy fix: The Witcher (due in late 2019) is another sprawling, exotic world based on a best-selling series of books about an ensemble of morally ambiguous characters. Except, well, actual monsters play the most pivotal roles in the story. “The monster and horror aspect has been done occasionally on fantasy shows, but it takes a back seat a lot of the time,” says showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (Daredevil). “People are going to be surprised by how many monsters we were able to do, and how integral they are to the story.” —James Hibberd
10. Hill House Comics
Us. The Terror. Hereditary. We live in a golden age of horror stories in movies and on TV, and author Joe Hill (NOS4A2) wants to get comics in on the action. He describes Hill House Comics, his new DC pop-up line launching this fall, as “Blumhouse for comics,” with tales about talking heads decapitated by a magical ax (Hill’s Basketful of Heads), and a mysterious plague that eats memories (Carmen Maria Machado’s The Low, Low Woods). “In terms of trying to scare people, the unique format of comic books erases the distance between the reader and the story,” says Hill, 47, who fell in love with horror comics as a kid reading his dad Stephen King’s hardcover collections of Tales From the Crypt. “Comics play out more like dreams than any other form of storytelling.” —Christian Holub
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