Headed to San Diego Comic-Con? Here’s the schedule for the first few days

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — San Diego Comic-Con is almost here and organizers have finally released a portion of the convention’s schedule. Spoiler alert: The convention appears set up to be once-again jam-packed with star-studded panels and other exciting nerdy activities.

At last year’s convention, the blockbuster panels dedicated to the future of beloved franchises were mostly absent due to the then-ongoing Hollywood strikes. For studios that remained at the con, they largely pivoted to teasing their upcoming animated projects.

However, the first batch of programming announced on Thursday, which spans the pre-convention activities and the first official day of the convention, appears to set up Comic-Con to make a full return to the types of promotion that gave the event its name.

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The program space at Comic-Con that headlines the convention, Hall H, already has several panels lined-up for fans that not only feature the producers behind projects, but the cast themselves — something attendees now expect out of these panels.

Among those announced on Thursday include a panel on the new Paramount Animation movie “Transformers One,” which chronicles the origin story of Optimus Prime and his nemesis Megatron, and the recent hit Disney+ show “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.”

Both are slated to have most of the main cast in attendance on top of the creators behind the projects.

For “Transformers One,” that includes the likes of Chris Hemsworth (Optimus Prime), Brian Tyree Henry (Megatron) and Keegan-Michael Key (Bumblebee), as well as the film’s director.

Meanwhile, the main trio in “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” — Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson), Leah Sava Jeffries (Annabeth Chase), Aryan Simhadri (Grover Underwood) — are all expected to join the series co-creator and executive producer.

On top of that, fans will be able to celebrate 25 years of the beloved Nickelodeon show “Spongebob Squarepants” in Hall H with its core cast of voice actors: Tom Kenny (SpongeBob), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick), Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward), Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs), and Mr. Lawrence (Plankton).

Hit vampire comedy, “What We Do In The Shadows,” will also be making an appearance in Hall H to promote its sixth and final season alongside its cast and producing team, but names of who is slated to appear have not been announced.

Outside Hall H, fans will also have plenty to look forward to. Other exciting, star-studded programming for the first day of the convention include panels on the all-new Paramount+ original series, “Tales of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” the VFX magic behind “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” and “Star Wars” stories past and present.

A full list of what has been announced by San Diego Comic-Con thus far can be found here.

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Other blockbuster panels, like the much-anticipated one from Marvel Studios, were not included in the batch of programming officially announced. However, there have been plenty of rumblings about what might be in store for fans throughout the rest of the weekend.

As Variety reported, Amazon will be bringing the cast and creative team behind the head-exploding superhero show, “The Boys,” and “Lord of the Rings” spin-off, “Rings of Power,” to Hall H. Meanwhile, HBO is expected to highlight its upcoming original series, “The Penguin,” which follows the Batman antagonist and gangster Oz Cobb, and the studio behind the “Star Trek” universe is anticipated to have a Hall H program featuring a number of its films and shows.

Marvel Studios is also expected to make a return to Hall H, although neither San Diego Comic-Con or the studio itself have publicly announced a panel dedicated to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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