Probably one of the busiest days of the weekend, and it’s chock full of things to do. The Anaheim Convention Center opens at 10:00 AM and the floor closes at 7:00 PM, so plan accordingly! There are quite a few screenings and popular guests in these panels, so be sure to get there at least a couple hours early if you want a good seat, if not sit through the panel before the one you want to go to. Be sure to plan for time to grab a bite to eat at the food trucks outside before you jump back into the fray!
From Stage to Screen: Rock Stars on Becoming Film and TV Composers
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM @ Room 207
Fan of Mr. Robot? Legends of Tomorrow? Legion? Well sit in on this panel with a lineup of some of the biggest musicians and composers in the industry. From music, to film, to television, they’ve covered it all and they’re ready to have a chat with you. Featuring panelists Jeff Russo (Tonic, Legion, Fargo), Charlie Clouser (Nine Inch Nails, the Saw franchise, Wayward Pines), Mac Quayle (Rise Robots Rise, Mr. Robot, American Horror Story), Siddhartha Khosla (Goldspot, This Is Us, The Royals), Jeff Cardoni (Alien Crime Syndicate, Silicon Valley, Training Day), and Alec Puro (Deadsy, The Fosters, Sweet/Vicious) with celebrity moderators Stephanie Corneliussen (Mr. Robot, Legends of Tomorrow) and Amber Midthunder (Legion, Hell or High Water).
IDW Entertainment: Wynonna Earp
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM @ Room 208
After a wild first season of Wynonna Earp last year, Syfy is giving us a whole new season! WonderCon is hosting the cast and crew of the show on Saturday. We’re on the edge of our seats in excitement for what we’ll be seeing come Saturday morning and what kinds of clips the team might bring us after the hiatus.
Midnight, Texas Series Premiere
11:45 AM – 1:00 PM @ Room 300AB
Charlene Harris fans rejoice! Three years after the finale of HBO’s True Blood, NBC is ready to show off the next Harris inspired series, Midnight, Texas. Urban fantasy fans are in for a treat as the show debuts on Saturday with the pilot episode and a Q&A session with the cast members. TV aficionados will see some familiar faces from their favorite shows with these guests: François Arnaud (The Borgias), Dylan Bruce (Orphan Black), Parisa Fitz-Henley (Luke Cage), Arielle Kebbel (The Vampire Diaries), Jason Lewis (Sex and the City), and Sarah Ramos (Parenthood) and executive producers Monica Owusu-Breen (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and David Janollari (Six Feet Under).
Scoring the Future: Writing Music for Sci-Fi
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM @ Room 213
It seems like Saturday is a music lover’s treat, after the “From Stage to Screen” panel, jump over to Room 213 for a panel with some of the most lauded composers in the sci-fi circuit. Packed with some well-praised composers, this is one you can’t miss! Hit them up for the Q&A and stay for a chance to win some giveaways! The panelists are as follows Greg Edmonson (Firefly), Andrew Lockington (The Space Between Us), Heather McIntosh (Z for Zachariah), and Tree Adams (The 100). Moderated by senior director of film, TV, and visual media at BMI Anne Cecere and Chandler Poling of White Bear PR.
Syfy’s The Magicians
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM @ Room 300AB
Have you been keeping up with this season’s The Magicians? If you have, you’ll be hard-pressed not to want to attend this panel with only three episodes left in the season. Located in one of the larger ballrooms, The Magicians is preceded by the Midnight, Texas premiere, so if you’re interested in both, it’s time to get comfortable! Panelists include Jason Ralph (“Quentin Coldwater”), Stella Maeve (“Julia Wicker”), and executive producers Sera Gamble and John McNamara.
Spotlight on Gerard Way
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM @ Room 300DE
Suddenly it’s 2007 and I’m in high school listening to My Chemical Romance, except nope wait it’s ten years later and we’re at WonderCon for Gerard Way’s spotlight panel! His work with The Umbrella Academy has been refreshing, and he’s well on his way to standing on the main stage with the comics’ industries giants. He’s the mastermind behind DC’s Young Animal and he’ll be making his debut in Marvel by writing for the Edge of Spider-Verse series.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
2:00 PM – 3:15 PM @ Room 300AB
Well it’s been a wild four seasons of Agents of SHIELD and yet somehow we’re back where we started with the story. Prepare for the final “pod” of the SHIELD storyline, “Framework”, by attending the panel with the head of Marvel TV and executive producer Jeph Loeb and the series stars. We’ll also get a chance to see the new, upcoming episode before the show returns in April.
Weird & Wondrous
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM @ Room 208
The title says it all, your favorite authors come together to discuss the weird and wondrous worlds they’ve created in their books, and you’re invited! In attendance will be Authors Chuck Wendig (Thunderbird), Delilah S. Dawson (Strike), Lila Bowen (Conspiracy of Ravens), Sam Sykes (An Affinity for Steel), Stephen Blackmoore (Hungry Ghosts), and Kiersten White (And I Darken), with moderator Maryelizabeth Yturralde (Mysterious Galaxy).
Riverdale Exclusive Screening of Brand New Episode
3:15 PM – 4:15 PM @ Arena
The classic Archie comics have been given a CW twist, which means pop culture references, stylish 20-year-olds playing teenagers, and some sort of murder-mystery to keep everyone on their toes. There’s not much on what we’ll be seeing at this exclusive screening of Riverdale but if you’re a fan of the show, why not make your way over to the Arena? (Make sure to check your map and ask attendants if you’re not sure where the Arena is!)
Rogue One: The Magic Behind the Mission
3:15 Pm – 4:15 PM @ Room 300AB
Can anyone resist a Star Wars panel? Hal Hickel, the animation supervisor at Industrial Light Magic, talks with fans about his role in creating visual effects for the latest entry into the Star Wars universe. If you enjoyed Rogue One like the rest of us, there’s sure to be something for you in this panel!
The Most Dangerous Women at WonderCon Anaheim: More than Just Cookies
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM @ Avalon Room, Anaheim Hilton
Stereotypes and tropes are boring! And female characters are so often just cut from the same batch of archetypes. Let’s discuss creating more three-dimensional characters with depth and variety with some women in the industry who know just what it’s like to be more than just the sum of their parts. The panel is moderated by Katrina Hill (Action Movie Freak, 100 Greatest Graphic Novels) with Dr. Janina Scarlet (Superhero Therapy), Stephanie Thorpe (CryptTV, The Ladies & The Gents), America Young (Geek & Sundry), Jessica Tseang (Little Geek Girls, Comic Book Historian), Alex Langley (The Geek Handbook, Kill the Freshman), and Tamara Brooke (Comic Book Resources, Seat 42F) as the panelists.
IndieWire’s Fan Favorites Showrunners
4:15 PM – 5:15 PM @ Room 300AB
Sure it’s fun asking your favorite TV stars questions about the shows their on, but these are the people who make the decisions. Joining IndieWire executive editor Michael Schneider in this all-star panel of showrunners from some of the biggest shows around right now. While there isn’t a specified Q&A session, there’s no harm in attending if you’ve got a hard hitting question, they might end up taking questions. Showrunners in attendance include Marc Guggenheim (Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow), Jessica Goldberg (The Path), Jonah Ray (Mystery Science Theater 3000, Hidden America with Jonah Ray), Sera Gamble (The Magicians), Raphael Bob-Waksberg (BoJack Horseman), and Aline Brosh McKenna (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend).
Spotlight on Hope Larson
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM @ Room 213
Hope Larson has walked an illustrious journey in the last twelve years, from indie cartoonist to the writer of DC’s Batgirl. This spotlight features Cecil Castellucci (Shade, the Changing Girl;The Plain Janes) as she sits down to have a discussion with Larson.
Warner Bros. Pictures
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM @ Arena
Oh man, guys, after that Justice League trailer drop what else does Warner Bros. have in store for us? The description is simple, but anyone who’s gone to a CCI convention before knows that panels like this are not to be missed. This is where they drop some major details on upcoming projects and where they bring out the big guns. This is a must attend, and you’ve got the whole day to mentally prepare.
DreamWorks Voltron: Legendary Defender, A Netflix Original Series
5:30 PM – 6:30 PM @ Room 300DE
Critically acclaimed Voltron is leaving its mark on Anaheim. If you’re a fan of this hit animated series, do not miss this panel! They’re coming prepared for a lengthy fan Q&A and your questions about season two will be answered. Who knows, maybe you’ll be able to pry some teasers from executive producer Joaquim Dos Santos, co-executive producer Lauren Montgomery, story editor Tim Hedrick, and the voice cast members on what we’ll be able to see in season three.
Inside the Writer’s Room: From Script to Screen
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM @ Room 207
Looks like it’s a behind-the-scenes kind of day with the panelists in this room. If you’re not too overwhelmed after composers and showrunners, maybe it’s time to head over to room 207 and speak to the writers themselves. Didn’t get your questions in with the showrunners? It’s time to hit up some of your favorite shows’ writers for the answers you’ve been looking for! The massive panel includes Gabrielle Stanton (Time After Time, The Flash), Michael Narducci (The Originals, Medium), Sarah Watson (The Bold Type, Parenthood), Javier Grillo-Marxuach (The Middleman, Lost), Ashley E. Miller (Black Sails, Fringe), Steve Melching (Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Jose Molina (Agent Carter, The Tick), and Mark A. Altman (The Librarians, Agent X).
Nerdist Science with Kyle Hill: The Science of Mass Effect
6:15 PM – 7:15 PM @ Room 300AB
Any Mass Effect fans here? Any of you science nerds? Perfect. We’ve got your last panel set to go. We’re here with moderator Kyle Hill (Because Science, MythBusters: The Search) and nerdy panelists Matthew Patrick (The Game Theorists, MatPat’s Game Lab), Dianna Cowern (PBS’s The Physics Girl), Raquel Nuno (UCLA’s Earth, Planetary, and Space Science, the Mars 2020 project), and Jennifer Ouellette (The Physics of the Buffyverse, Cocktail Party Physics) talk nerdy to you about the science behind the universe of Mass Effect. It’ll be an open discussion, so bring any burning questions you have about the series with you and they might finally get answered.
The Unholy Children’s Book Massacre
7:30 PM – 8:30 PM @ Room 213
Who doesn’t like having their favorite childhood stories ruined? LA’s comedians from The Devastator come together to read their twisted parodies of Dr. Suess, Goosebumps, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and the Toys “R” Us Wishbook! It’s hard to imagine a better way to end the night if you’re not clamoring for a seat over at 300DE for Class. Join Jenny Jaffe (Big Hero 6), Lesley Tsina (Funny or Die), Michael Levine (The Onion), Lee Keeler (FilmDrunk), and Micki Grover (BuzzFeed) for a spooky and satirical storytime.
U.S. Premiere Screening of Doctor Who Spin-Off Class
7:30 PM – 8:30 PM @ Room 300DE
The wait is over, U.S. dwellers! We finally get a look at the Doctor Who spin-off, Class, before the premiere on April 15th, so get your sonic screwdrivers and popcorn and end the night with a trip to Coal Hill School with four students, who navigate a life of friends, parents, schoolwork, sex, sorrow — and possibly the end of existence.
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