Based off the moderately successful and well liked comic book of the same name, Locke & Key was one of the most anticipated shows of the coming fall for many con attendees. Unfortunately after good early buzz and even the president of Fox TV admitting it had a great pilot, the show wasn’t picked up and now only the first episode exists. Luckily for SDCC attendees, they’re likely to be one of the few groups of people in the entire world able to see it before it disappears into the void. On Friday July 22 at 10:30 AM, the con will be having a screening of the pilot, followed by a panel with the comic’s writers Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, the pilot’s writer/executive producer Josh Friedman, and executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Read on for scheduling weirdness and my thoughts.

The people putting on the panel are actually IDW Publishing, who puts out the comic, and this is a pretty big deal. No show has ever had a con panel with the knowledge it’ll never have a second episode and most fans expected the pilot to disappear forever. I think this is true con greatness as not only are you getting to see something first, you’re seeing something that’s likely to be locked away in a vault for a very long time. Though Ballroom 20 and Hall H might have the bigger sepctacle, this is definitely high on my list for must-see panels.

The weird thing though, is that because of crazy packed SDCC scheduling, the screening will be in Room 8 and the panel in Room 9. I guess they will just shift the entire audience over (neither is that huge a room) but I’ve never heard of it being done before. Deadline had the scoop.

Will you make this a priority?