SDCC 2016 Programming Schedule: Friday Highlights

friday highlightsIt’s two weeks away from Comic-Con, and CCI is releasing the programming schedule for Comic-Con 2016 in its annual fashion. We’ll be bringing you the highlights of each day as they’re announced.

We’ll also be discussing our thoughts on this year’s lineup, including our top picks, in a special series of live podcasts this weekend. The first of which will cover Preview Night, Thursday’s and Friday’s lineup, and will be on Friday July 8 at 9:30PM ET/6:30PM PT (which is tonight!)

With that said, let’s dive right into Friday.

Friday’s Hall H schedule is still virtually devoid of movies, but it’s a big day for TV in the biggest panel room at the con. You’ll kick your morning off with Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion for Con Man, snooze through Fear the Walking Dead to get to The Walking Dead, fight your way in for Game of Thrones, enjoy Dark Horse’s (mostly) annual chat with Joss Whedon, and then stick around for a celebration of 20 years of South Park and a live script reading of an upcoming Preacher episode to cap off your evening. This is going to be a rough day to get into the hall before 5PM – so plan accordingly.

On the non-Hall-H-TV side of things, attendees can look forward to an awesome day of programming in Ballroom 20. Things kick off at 10AM with Inside The Big Bang Theory Writer’s room, which usually has some special guests, followed by a farewell to Bones, The 100, Entertainment Week’s annual Brave New Warriors panel (this year with Dominic Cooper, Josh Holloway, Theo Rossi, Clive Standen, Eric Dane, and Corey Hawkins), Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., TV Guide again with their other annual Fan Favorites panel (panelists TBA), iZombie, Scream Queens, and the world premiere of the hotly anticipated Batman: The Killing Joke (and may we just point out that Hamill’s name is bolded, though he said he wasn’t attending? Hmm). That’s an insanely packed day, full of some awesome offerings.

There’s plenty of other TV around the rest of the convention as well. Orphan Black, Vikings, and American Gods (with Bryan Fuller, Neil Gaiman, and Ian McShane!) all over in 6BCF. The annual Cartoon Network/Adult Swim takeover of Indigo Ballroom returns with everything from Steven Universe to Robot Chick and Rick and Morty. Freeform (formerly ABC Family) finally returns to the con with Dead of Summer in Room 6A, along with yesterday’s weirdly missing Sharknado 4 Syfy panel.

And while it’s not in Hall H, you can get your Marvel movie fix a little early, with a panel about writing Captain America: Civil War with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely in the Horton Grand at 1PM. Or, just wait a few hours, and catch them both on “Are Heroes Born or Made” – and not deal with Horton’s Sails ticketing! There’s also a 25th Anniversary panel for Disney’s Beauty & The Beast with the directors in 5AB at 4:30PM that we’re pretty excited about.

For fans of comics, Friday is a very strong day – with the biggest news clearly being that Gerard Way is back at the con this year, to talk about his upcoming DC Imprint Young Animal in 5AB at 5:30PM. Then there’s  Image Comics creators in 23ABC at 11AM, Garfield creator Jim Davis’ first Comic-Con appearance in Room 5AB to discuss his new The Art of Garfield book, essentially a spotlight on Mike Mignola on 23ABC at 12PM, Dark Horse at 3PM in 7AB, IDW in Room 4 at 4PM, The Oatmeal at 6PM in 25ABC, and a chance to get into DC’s Suicide Squad comics ahead of the film’s release in 6DE at 11:15AM. For more DC goodness,  there’s also Jim Lee’s (mostly) annual live drawing panel is not to be missed in Room 2 at 4:30PM.

Fans of toys are definitely going to want to check out all of the Star Wars toy panels of the day, which include a look at Hasbro’s latest news (including a special product reveal) over in 7AB at 12PM, and a check-in with what Star Wars products are coming from some of the biggest names at 7AB with Gentle Giant, Kotobukiya, Sideshow, and more. You can also check out Mattel’s DC Collector Figures panel in 25ABC at 11AM.

After that, the biggest news of the day is potentially the “Shatner Singularity Universe: Exclusive Preview” panel happening in Room 6BCF at 12:45PM. The panel schedule lists William Shatner, Stan Lee, Mariano Nicieza, and Tim Walsh’s latest projects and has their names bolded – but it also says “creative teams will display”. So are we actually getting a panel with Shatner and Lee? We sure hope so.

We also recommend you check out Star Wars:  The Science Awakens to look at how movie science works in reality, The Black Panel in 5AB at 10AM which has Wayne Brady and Karen Hunter, Halo Wars 2 at 10:15AM in 6BCF for a look at the franchise with voice actors John DiMaggio and Erika Soto, a talk with author Patrick Rothfuss in Room 4 at 11AM, and of course, the annual My Little Pony: My Friendship is Magic panel in 6A at 10:30AM. Plus, there’s also a Cartoon Legends Speak panel in 24ABC at 1:30PM featuring a Disney legend and other award winners. And if it’s your thing, you can check out “Destination America’s Supernatural Super Panel”, where you can actually enter to join a ghost hunt for one of Destination America’s hit shows.

You can view the full Friday programming schedule on the MySched website.

What will you be lining up for on the first full day of Comic-Con? Let us know in the comments.

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