Derek’s SDCC 2022 Recap: Thursday

For my Pre-Con and Preview Night recap, head here!

I forgot just how exhausting SDCC can be. Maybe it’s just been awhile, or maybe I’m just really not as young as I was the last time I was in town (I wasn’t even in my 30’s then), but I feel dead tired already, and today (Thursday) is only the first full day of the convention!

But… I can sleep when I get back to Canada!

After turning in at about midnight (and naturally, rolling around for a bit), the alarm was set for 5:55AM this morning so I could head to the Welcome to Lumon website to attempt to snag a slot for the TV+ Severance offsite (press timing hasn’t quite worked out so far, and as a huge fan of the show I didn’t want to leave it up to chance). The website initially had some CAPTCHA issues (not just for me, as complaints echoed across twitter), but the CAPTCHA segment was quickly removed, and I just happened to refresh at the right moment and snagged a slot for 12PM. If you’re lucky enough to be on site in San Diego, more slots will open up at 6AM each day and will go very quickly — after booking my slot, I refreshed again to see what was still available, and every slot was already booked up. From the look of the Welcome to Lumon website to the confirmation email that I received, it was clear that this was going to be a high-quality experience.

I pretty much completely cut out caffeine eight or nine months ago, but needed something this morning to give me a bit of a kickstart. Luckily enough, the Hilton Bayfront hotel that we’re staying in has a Starbucks in it, and they even decked it out with some light decorations for Comic-Con!

Once I grabbed a beverage, it was time to head over to The Theatre Box for the William Shatner handprint ceremony (featuring new Captain Kirk, Paul Wesley) hosted by Legion M. This was a super neat experience, and seeing the joy on the faces of all of the Star Trek cosplayers and fans in attendance is sure to be a convention highlight. You can catch a couple of photos of the event below, and we’ll link a dedicated piece about the experience once it’s been published!

This was a fantastic way to start the day, and I couldn’t have been more excited for the Lumon Orientation experience that was coming up next. Severance is an absolutely phenomenal drama, and one that I (unfortunately) didn’t jump on until the insane word of mouth about the series was too much to ignore. It’s completely unique, and unlike anything I’ve really seen before — I cannot wait for Season Two.

As TV+ launched in November of 2019, this year’s SDCC really marks their first major appearance at the convention. The brand really came out in full force, with huge wraps on the outside of the Gaslamp Hard Rock Hotel, gigantic banners inside of the convention center, numerous panels, including dedicated panels for Severance, For All Mankind, Mythic Quest, and more (along with, of course, the Severance offsite itself).

my slot was for 12PM, and at that point, things were running decently behind. It was after 1PM by the time my ”orientation” finally began, but as a major fan of the show it was well worth the wait. The offsite itself was simply breathtaking — just yesterday I noted that this year’s House of the Dragon experience may have been second only to 2013’s Godzilla Encounter, but Severance’s ’Lumon Orientation” has to take the cake You can take a look at a couple of photos from the experience below, and we’ll be sure to link our full write up once it goes live! If you’re lucky enough to be in San Diego, you can try your luck for a reservation at 6AM each morning right here.

Eventually, I’m sure that I’ll make it to the expo hall floor — but not yet, as after Severance, it was time to check out the Audible Beach!

At SDCC 2019, Audible featured a huge offsite for the intriguing Stan Lee’s ‘Alliances: A Trick of Light’ offsite in 2019 (reminisce with Mikaela’s write-up of that experience right here). This year’s presence is much smaller, featuring a few expertly crafted sand sculptures themed for some of Audible’s biggest new releases like Moriarty: The Devil’s Game and Impact Winter, and a ”beach” where attendees can relax and recharge (their phones). Here are a couple of shots of the impressive designs, and a few more in our dedicated piece right here.

Severance was hosting a massive panel in Ballroom 20 at 4PM which may have been the programming that I was most excited for at this year’s SDCC. Prior to heading for the long Ballroom 20 line, I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything yet for the day, nor had I had any liquids for hours — so… I paid $20USD for two cookies and two drinks before heading in the ballroom.

Patton Oswalt hosted the panel, noting that as a major fan of the show it felt as though he‘d won some sort of lottery. Panelists included series creator Dan Erickson (it was actually Dan’s first time at SDCC), series director Ben Stiller (also, somehow his first time at SDCC), Britt Lower (Helly, also first time, and she looked like she was going to cry at the audience’s reaction when she entered), Adam Scott (Mark), along with with Dichen Lachman (Ms. Casey), Jen Tullock (Devon), and Tramell Tillman (Milchick). The ballroom looked packed, which was super exciting (and a little surprising, as TV+ is an absolutely underrated service that almost nobody I know seems to subscribe to).

Erickson began the panel noting that when having a terrible office job, he simply wished that he could just fast forward eight hours and be done with it — this is how the idea of Severance was originally born.

Several neat tidbits were revealed during the panel — Mark, for instance, was originally the character that would have woken up at the beginning of the pilot rather than Helly; at one point, a detached pair of legs was set to run down a hallway (this was deemed a bit too weird); Erickson wrote the pilot over ten years ago, and Stiller read it over five years ago. Possibly the panel’s best reveal was that none of the cast was aware of the multicolored dance party lights that were installed in the Macrodata Refinement office until the scene was actually shot.

Mr. Milchick himself looked suspicious when asked if we’d see further into his character’s life, so I’m pretty sure (and pretty hopeful) that this will happen.

Interestingly enough, series director Ben Stiller noted that the Severance activation at the Hard Rock Hotel (look for our write-up on that soon) was built up from about 75% real props from the show — including the computers used for Macrodata Refinement.

The panelists dug pretty deep into the show, the thought behind it, and its many twists and turns, and it was just plain exciting to hear from some of the incredible minds that made it all happen. I won’t say too much as I don’t want to risk any spoilers, but let this serve as your reminder that Severance is one or the best dramas in recent memory, and it should absolutely be on your radar.

I was feeling pretty beat by this point, and wanted to head back to our hotel for a bit to work on some write-ups. I stopped by the Geekscape booth (again, #3919) to say hello, and then walked back over to the Hilton Bayfront. Once I arrived… I realized that there was a panel, Attack of the Show: Who Let Us In?, starting shortly that I’d really been looking forward to.

I weighed the pros and cons for a bit (fun panel vs. getting a jump-start on articles and resting a bit), and ultimately (thankfully) decided to go. The panel ended up being essentially a live (uncensored) episode of the show, made a lot of fun of Kevin Pereira, and was overall a total blast. I’m not sure if G4 has been as much of hit they were hoping for since its return last year, but I’m super glad that it again exists.

Matt and I grabbed a quick dinner (there was zero wait for a two person table at Spaghetti Factory, which was super surprising as it’s one of the closest restaurants to the convention center, not to mention most affordable). Throughout the dinner, I talked about how I was glad to not be going out that night as I was so damned tired, and because the next day had a Paper Girls screening that I was excited to attend. Once we returned to the hotel, I sat down and wrote for a few minutes… and then went against everything that I said at dinner and walked over to the IMDBoat.

I ran into Shaun again while there, met some of his friends, and had some delicious themed cocktails. It was a great way to cap the night, and I’m only 14% regretting it this morning.

That’s it for now — be sure to check back for more tomorrow!