10 Things We Learned at TV Guide Magazine’s Fan Favorites Comic-Con Panel 2019
Comic-Con
On July 19 at San Diego Comic-Con, the TV Guide Magazine Fan Favorites panel erupted in Ballroom 20, thanks to a slew of stars from the most popular TV comedies and dramas that drew an at-capacity audience. Not a bad way to celebrate the panel’s 10th anniversary, right?
Moderated by TV Guide Magazine’s Senior Writer Damian Holbrook, the panel featured Ben Feldman and Lauren Ash (Superstore), William Jackson Harper (The Good Place), Caity Lotz (Legends of Tomorrow), Candice Patton (The Flash), Brittany Curran (The Magicians), Yetide Badaki (American Gods), Matt Davis (Legacies), Clark Gregg (Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD) and co-stars and newlyweds in real life, Bob Morley and Eliza Taylor (The 100).
There was also a surprise guest during the panel when Stephen Amell (Arrow) appeared to talk about wrapping up the eighth and final season of his long-running CW series. Read on for 10 takeaways from the exciting event!
Stephen Amell (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
One of the panelists walked the Comic-Con convention floor in a Flash mask: Ben Feldman said he bought the mask of our favorite speedster on Amazon. “I put on my Flash mask and I went and walked around the floor this morning since I’d never been to Comic-Con before.”
Brittany Curran geeked out over being on a panel with The Good Place‘s Chidi (Harper): “When I found out someone from The Good Place was going to be here, I was, like, ‘Please be Chidi, please be Chidi,” said Curran. “I DM’d Damian, I said “Oh my God, I’m going to be on a panel with Chidi!” and he said “Do you want me to sit you next to him?” and I said ‘Duh!'” Of course, Curran appeared very happy to be seated alongside Harper during the panel.
Brittany Curran, William Jackson Harper, and Eliza Taylor (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
Candice Patton was brought to tears talking about her love of her fandom and how they’ve embraced her as Iris West Allen. “I don’t know, man. It’s crazy. It’s so important. I know how important it was to me as a young girl. And to be in a position where I even have a small part in opening that door. It’s huge,” she said.
“I always wanted to be the ingenue. I always saw people who looked like me being the best friend, the sidekick. I know how important it is for women of color to see themselves as beautiful and desirable. It means a lot to me. It’s why I fight so hard for my position and try to speak out about diversity and inclusion. I’m never going to stop fighting that fight. So to have any kind of impact in this industry and for young girls who look me, I can take all the hate that I’ve got. I can live with that.”
Candice Patton and Caity Lotz (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
Lauren Ash remembered her first time being recognized by a fan. The Superstore star said she was new to Los Angeles and was heading onto the Disney lot to audition for the short-lived ABC comedy series Super Fun Night when a security guard recognized her from the hidden camera prank show, Scare Tactics. The guard told her to park in a handicap spot, which the actress did with trepidation but the guard assured her it was fine. She was only embarrassed when she walked out post-audition. “I’m coming out with my competitors and I had to get in my car that was parked in the handicap spot, which looked like a power move in the worst way.” She did book the show.
Ben Feldman and Lauren Ash (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
Actors Who Direct: Morley directed an episode of The 100 that airs on July 23 and his new wife, Taylor, who did the WB directing workshop , will be directing in the upcoming season of the CW series. Lotz, who also participated in the workshop, is set to direct an upcoming episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. “It’s been so exciting and it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a really long time,” says Lotz.
Alaric Saltzman — the man who will not die: Davis, who began playing the character of Alaric Saltzman on the long-running Vampire Diaries series, is still playing him on the Originals spinoff, Legacies. “I’ve been playing [the character] for 10 years now and they’ve probably killed me off 15-20 times and I just keep coming back so here I am,” Davis laughed. “I started playing him when I was 30 and now I’m 40!”
Eliza Taylor and Bob Morley (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
Chidi is ripped up: Holbrook asked Harper whether he must’ve had a spike in Twitter followers when he went shirtless on The Good Place to reveal a very well-built torso. “We finally found out where the good place is,” Holbrook joked.
Playing villains is more fun than good guys. Both Gregg and Taylor have played evil versions of their characters on their respective shows. Taylor smiled when she said, “I loved playing Josephine. She’s deliciously evil and it was really fun.” Gregg said that playing Coulson’s doppelganger, Sarge was a good thing. “Evil is good,” he said. “I’ve been good for 10 years in Marvel so this year I’m back in the same skin and very, very evil. It’s very freeing!”
All good things must come to an end: With Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D coming to an end, Gregg said, “It’s a mixed bag. On one hand, it’s been a long six or seven years…but then I also really love a lot of people there. We have a really great crew and we’re tight so there’s a lot of complex feelings going on.”
Clark Gregg and Candice Patton (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
Harper’s The Good Place is also ending. “It’s all sadness,” he said. “We’re telling the story that we wanted to tell [and] there’s an integrity to the storytelling that I hope fans appreciate and they can go back and there’s jewel of a thing that they liked and it’s completed instead of riding it until nobody likes it anymore and the story is long past its expiration date. It’s totally bittersweet.”
Feldman and Ash joked that they’re ready to ride out Superstore as long as they possibly can. “People hate it? Don’t care,” said Ash.
Stephen Amell is excited about shooting the last season of Arrow. The surprise panelist stepped out in the latter half of the panel to talk about wrapping up the series that helped launched other Arrow-verse series, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl. “It feels good,” Amell said. “I like running a race where I know where the finish line is. We started our final season five or six days ago with a really huge percentage of the crew that we started with in March of 2012 and everyone had a clear idea of what we wanted to do. It’s exciting.”
