It's Sunday and things at Comic-Con are starting to wind down, though there are still a few big panels set to take place. CBS' new summer series Under the Dome is one of them. For those of you who can't be here, I'll be doing the play-by-play of the panel here in Room 6BCF for you! Expected panelists include stars of the CBS drama, Dean Norris, Mike Vogel, Rachelle Lefevre, as well as executive producers Brian K. Vaughan, Neal Bear and Jack Bender.
Here's the full panel description:
Sunday July 21, 2013 2:15pm - 3:15pm - Room 6BCFStars Dean Norris (Breaking Bad), Mike Vogel (Bates Motel), and Rachelle Lefevre (Twilight), along with executive producers Brian K. Vaughan (Lost), Neal Bear (Law and Order: SVU), and Jack Bender (Lost), invite you to go under the dome as they discuss the television event of the summer about a small town inexplicably sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible and indestructible dome. Based on Stephen King's bestselling novel, the series follows "Big Jim" (Norris), the only elected official left under the dome whose abiding love for the town may be surpassed only by his desire for power; Dale "Barbie" Barbara (Vogel), an army veteran with a mysterious past; and "Julia Shumway" (Lefevre), the editor of the local newspaper who is coping with the disappearance of her husband, among other residents who are all struggling to uncover the mystery of the dome that has descended upon their town. They must come together to find ways to survive and work to ultimately rebuild their democracy from the ground up, while facing postapocalyptic situations. Follow them on this journey under the dome, where no one can hide and no one's secret is safe.
2:16 p.m. - They're showing us Episode 5, so it'll be a bit before we have any updates, but stay tuned. We'll start live blogging once the Q&A starts!
Here are some very mild episode spoilers. This Monday's episode has the Dome residents enjoying "Visitor's Day." The military has brought outsiders up to the dome to see their loved ones. Junior Rennie's breaking in his new badge. Big Jim has to figure out what to do about Angie in the bunker now that he knows she's there. Julia learns more about what was going on with Peter. Norrie learns her mother lied about something major. And that's all just the start of this episode, as a new threat looms.
2:59 - The pane begins! Neil Baer says it's all about the characters and credits Stephen King for creating them. He says when they're writing the show, even they want to know what's going to happen next. Brian K. Vaughan says he's obsessed with Stephen King. Vaughan talks about being name-checked in the book. He says it's been a surreal journey.
3:01 - Rachelle is talking about an "Adam and Eve" moment in this week's episode. She points out the chemistry between Barbie and Julia. Mike Vogel says the writers have done a great job weaving push and pull that Barbie's gone through. Moderator points out that Junior's psychotic. Dean Norris says he's just misunderstood. And he jokes that Junior gets his dark side from his mother side. I thought he was joking but then he says we're going to learn more about Junior's mother and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
3:04 - Vaughan talking about King's original idea for UTD spanning years. King told Vaughan to use the TV experience to take the story and characters where he couldn't. Rachelle says the filter between her brain and mouth is limited. She was attracted to the idea of playing a character who had a lot of emotions. She's talking about Julia being pragmatic and needing answers. She thinks TV needs more strong female characters that aren't just reacting to the male story-lines around them or constantly at the whim of their feelings.
3:06 - Neil says there are some mysterious women about to show up. People we haven't met yet who are crucial to unfurling this story. Moderator asks Dean about Big Jim's response to seeing Angie in the bunker. Spoiler - he leaves her there, at least for a little bit. And then they discuss something darker that takes place during the episode for Big JIm, but it's too big of a spoiler, so I'm not going to repeat it.
3:08 - Vaughan says the script was written for Showtime but the show was produced for CBS so there was no editing necessary to bring the project from cable to network TV. Someone asked how deep the dome is. Vaughan says he doesn't know whether or not it's a sphere, but Neil says it'll be revealed in Episode 7. Dean Norris says it felt really fun to play a bad guy (switching over from playing Hank on Breaking Bad). Vaughan says there will be some secrets about the dome will be held back before the end of the season. November 5 for the DVD. They're shooting the season finale right now and it ends with "a hell of a cliffhanger" and if they're not lucky to get picked up for Season 2 fans will be left hanging. So - no confirmation of Season 2 yet, but it sounds like they're writing the show with the hopes of renewal.
3:12 - Vaughan points out that no one is safe on this show. Vaughan says King encouraged them to change the adaptation from book to screen. Vaughan says if we read the book and think we know what's coming, you don't.
And that's the end of the panel!
