Predator Turns Prey in Badlands Panel at Comic-Con

Comic-Con 2023 formally began Friday in San Diego, and while tens of thousands of people from around the world are in town for the nerdvana jamboree, the most celebrated presence at this year’s event may be one that’s new to Comic-Con altogether.

Acclaimed filmmaker George Lucas will make his first Comic-Con appearance this year, despite ties to the convention that run deep. His two most famous franchises, Star Wars and Indiana Jones, have histories at Comic-Con that run nearly as long as the storied event itself, but Lucas has never made an appearance.

This year, though, Comic-Con is marking a special anniversary, and Lucas’s participation in the weekend is a newsworthy moment of its own. “Five decades ago, Star Wars made one of its earliest public appearances at our convention, where a booth selling [comic book artist] Howard Chaykin’s now-iconic Star Wars poster was one of many promoting the upcoming film,” David Glanzer, the chief communications and strategy officer, told The Dispatch. He said Lucas’s presence this year was a “true full-circle moment for our convention,” with attendees looking forward to his appearance to discuss and celebrate his enduring impact on world-building and visual storytelling.

Lucas will take part in a Sunday afternoon panel on the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, moderated by Queen Latifah. He’ll be joined by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and Academy Award-winning designer Doug Chiang, who has worked with Lucas to bring to life the Star Wars universe for several decades. Together, they’ll be discussing the Lucas Museum, a project that celebrates “illustrated storytelling” through film, comics, and concept art and which is opening next year in Los Angeles. Lucas will also share his private collection, the contents of which will be preserved at the museum.

Comic-Con Today and Through the Years

From a small gathering of comic book fans in 1970 to a pop-culture behemoth with roughly 130,000 attendees annually, San Diego Comic-Con has become a must-attend event for devotees of anything from cosplay to collectibles to cinema. But many make the trek to San Diego, California, to attend the sneak previews, panel discussions, and world premieres of Hollywood’s buzziest projects.

Alien: Earth

One such premiere fans are eager to see this weekend is “Alien: Earth,” the world premiere of a new series from the Alien franchise and prequel to Ridley Scott’s 1979 film of the same name. The series, directed by Noah Hawley and set to stream on streaming services later this August, will explore the established world of Alien, just a few years before the opening of the first film. It will be shown tomorrow in Hall H, the show’s largest and most sought-after venue.

Predator: Badlands

Another title on the sci-fi lineup getting a lot of play is the upcoming Predator film, “Predator: Badlands.” The latest iteration of the sci-fi franchise offers a new take on the title monster: this time, it’s the hunted. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, who recently brought the series to life in a fun new way with 2022’s Prey, this new Predator film will show the famous monster with its back to the wall for the first time. Trachtenberg and actors Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, who plays the titular alien Dek, will be on the panel for the event.

Marvel Pulls Back, Sci-Fi Takes Over

Marvel Studios will take a reduced role at this year’s Comic-Con, the studio has announced. In a departure from recent years, Marvel won’t be screening its highly anticipated summer showcase in Hall H due to a change in the release date for the studio’s upcoming Avengers film. “Marvel won’t hold its usual Hall H program this year as key elements of the release plan for Avengers: Cosmic-Overload-That-Explodes-Planets have changed over the past few months. Continual production in the UK has made it logistically difficult for the studio to stage a program,” Variety reported.

Sci-fi has flexed its might to take up some of the lost programming space. Big names, including those above, are expected to keep the action brisk in Hall H all weekend long.

Ryan Gosling, Peacemaker, and More Superheroes

A big event that will also be followed closely over the weekend is the trailer reveal for Project Hail Mary, a film adaptation of the book of the same name by Andy Weir, the author of The Martian. Project Hail Mary will hit theaters next year, and in it, Gosling plays Ryland Grace, a former schoolteacher who wakes up in space with no memory of how he got there. Alone on a spaceship hurtling across the galaxy, he’s told he’s the world’s last hope. At a panel on Saturday, Gosling will be joined by directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who also worked on the Spider-Verse film trilogy.

DC Comics fans are also likely to tune in for news of a second season of Peacemaker. Series creator James Gunn, who is taking the helm of DC’s overall film reboot after directing Superman for other directors, will be there with the cast to give fans a behind-the-scenes look and a sneak peek at the upcoming season.

Photos: Cosplay and More at Comic-Con 2023

Thousands of attendees will be decked out in the latest superhero garb on Sunday, the final day of San Diego Comic-Con. Princesses, warriors, aliens, and, of course, heroes from our favorite comics will be out in full force at the weekend-long celebration.

From first glimpses of an alien-infested Earth to new details about comic book lore and cosplay, this year’s San Diego Comic-Con is bound to add another page to pop culture history.