The cast and crew of "Midnight, Texas" paid a visit to New York Comic Con for a special screening of the season two premiere episode, followed by a panel to discuss what just aired along with teasers of what's to come for this new batch of episodes. When last the viewers saw our beloved Midnight residents, all Hell had been about to break loose. But with the power of togetherness, love, and magical strength, the lead characters were able to stop Colconnar from taking over. But the manner in which these evils were defeated have consequences that quickly begin to reveal themselves in the season two premiere.

Manfred had allowed numerous nefarious spirits to possess him. Despite releasing them as part of a pact, there are lingering effects from allowing these demons into his body. Manfred is shown to be suffering from mysterious bouts of sleep-walking that may have ominous effects on those he cares about most in Midnight. When questioned about the selective re-dressing that Manfred displays (shoes but no shirts or pants) when sleepwalking, François Arnaud is a good sport about the matter.

"I'm sure there were like four production meetings about that," begins Arnaud. "It's not HBO so he has to keep the boxers. Do you have a problem with that? Should I have gone barefoot?"

Bobo and Fiji consummated their relationship and are now enjoying the more physical aspects of their relationship, as seen in the season two premiere with a bout of levitating-to-the-ceiling lovemaking. "That scene took like nine hours to shoot," says Dylan Bruce. Fiji is also revealed to be a dark witch, at least in the sense of the origins of her inherited magic.

"We're gonna see what Fiji comes from, her heritage, and how that will impact her life and the lives of the other Midnighters," says Parisa Fitz-Henley.

Lem had saved Olivia by feeding her some of his blood, which established a deeper psychological connection. There are some benefits to this, including Lem being able to anticipate all of Olivia's needs after a long day of work no matter how salacious they may be. But there are downsides to someone having a permanent access into your mind, regardless of if they are a loved one.

"Sometimes you can know a bit too much," says Peter Mensah.
"Clearly episode one, Olivia is enjoying this psychic connection and all of it's benefits," says Arielle Kebbel. "But very quickly it becomes very challenging. Not only is she married for the first time which is very difficult for an individual like her, she's an incredibly independent woman. It's very real because he can feel her every emotion, all of her thoughts, and how do you tell someone you love to back off when you've literally just married them? How do you know that this is forever because he's a vampire, until the day I die is this gonna be what we're dealing with? That'll really take a strain on a relationship."

There are also newcomers to the series, including Walker Chisum, an openly gay demon hunter who will have an intense connection with Joe.

"There's this really hot dude and we've been hanging out," jokes Jason Lewis. "He's a human badass and also living the life that [Joe] was made to live."

Kai and Patience Lucero are the married owners of the new resort being established in Midnight's once run-down hotel, that Manfred had previously seen spirits in the windows of during the season one finale.

"Obviously Manfred owes his life and the lives of his friends to Kai after the first episode. Kai's wife Patience is... let's just say Patience and Manfred form a bond through adversity. I won't say what kind of bond but Manfred is very good at making bad decisions," teases Arnaud.

With only ten episodes per season, the writers waste no time jumping into all of what's great about "Midnight, Texas" in the season two premiere. There's exciting magical ongoings, intriguing mysterious plot developments set to unfold over the course of the season, well-executed action sequences and choreography, and compelling heartfelt performances that resonate at the core of the viewer-adoration for the series and all it's lead characters. It also seamlessly incorporates comedic bits and dialogue without undermining the more serious threats looming in this small town. With so much to chew on after just one episode, we can't wait to see what lies ahead.

"Midnight, Texas" season two premieres on Friday, October 26 on NBC at 9/8c.

Watch the full "Midnight, Texas" New York Comic Con panel here:

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Rosario Dawson made an appearance at New York Comic Con to discuss her role in narrating the Artemis audiobook. The original novel was written by Andy Weir, who is also the author of The Martian, and Weir himself joined in on the panel through a video conference call. Weir shared about his development process of creating the Artemis world and story, while Dawson spoke about all the last-minute preparation she took on in order to voice the wide variety of characters in the book since many of them were from different backgrounds with particular accents associated with each.

Watch the Artemis panel here:

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Melissa Joan Hart and her mother Paula Hart paid a visit to New York Comic Con to promote their upcoming Lifetime film "The Watcher In The Woods" which is adapted from a 1976 novel and was also adapted to film by Disney in 1980. While the original film adaptation borrowed much of the more abstract, science fiction components of the novel, Melissa and Paula promise that this latest film adaptation for Lifetime will be a traditional ghost story.

Though Melissa and Paula have worked together to produce the project, Melissa took on the additional responsibility of directing. Much of the production staff was also women, something they are enormously proud to have done so as to better the opportunities for women in the industry. Anjelica Huston is also prominently featured in the project and has had nothing but kind words about Melissa as a director throughout her time promoting the project.

The Watcher In The Woods will air on Lifetime on Saturday, October 21.

Watch the full "The Watcher In The Woods" panel here:

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Since it's premiere back in 2014, FOX's "Gotham" has begun to build a universe all its own in the legacy of DC Comics live-action adaptations and continually expanded the scale of its leading cast and narrative. When bringing the show to New York Comic Con, WB pulled no punches as the massive row of chairs to seat all the lead actors (plus the moderator) spanned the vast majority of the space available across the stage. The cast took the opportunity to speak about the show's latest season, what's coming up for these beloved characters, and answered questions from devoted fans that were eager to speak with the actors whom they are passionate in supporting.

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The latest Stephen King adaptation comes in the form of a Hulu series, "Castle Rock", which will be combining various King works into a single arc spanning ten episodes which will premiere in 2018. Despite still being midway through filming, series stars and producers paid a visit to New York Comic Con where a new trailer was revealed and they gave a panel and Q&A to promote this anticipated new show.

The show is also particularly notable for having both Sissy Spacek and Bill Skarsgård in their line-up, as both have given memorable performances in prior adaptations of King novels. Spacek played the titular role in "Carrie" (1976) and Skarsgård's popularity has sky-rocketed due to his portrayal of Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the 2017 "It" film. Skarsgård received the bulk of the questions during the audience Q&A portion of the "Castle Rock" panel. Originally from Sweden, Skarsgård shared that when researching King's books, he reads them in English as opposed to Swedish. "I like to read, if I can read, the author's own words without it being translated. Swedish books in Swedish and English books in English." Skarsgård was under strict orders to reveal practically nothing about his character or the plot that he will be portraying. This is not only his second time acting in a Stephen King adaptation, but the second time he will be acting in a television series adapted for a streaming platform following three seasons as Roman Godfrey on Netflix's Hemlock Grove.

"We're doing an anthology show, ten hours of one story. I kind of grew up seeing television become what it is today. I remember being 15, watching Sopranos, and that major shift happened to what it is today. For writers, the TV show format is the only thing that can compete with the novel itself. You can really delve deep into characters and developments as opposed to just two hours or and hour and a half movie. I've always been intrigued by it. I especially like the miniseries format because there's a conclusion to this mystery that we've started. Some shows tend to just prolong that misery until they seem very confused to what it is in the first place. It just becomes diluted towards the end. We have something here that, it's a beginning, it's a middle, it's an end. There's a progression, huge character development for my character, I can tell you that much. He starts in one place and ends up somewhere completely different. It really is for an actor, such an amazing format to really delve deep. Two episodes is a feature film so we're essentially making five feature films here in terms of material and it's great."

Watch the full "Castle Rock" panel here:

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Director and writer Angela Robinson has spent the last years trying to get a film made on the origins of Wonder Woman. The timing ended up lining up well, as her creative endeavour "Professor Marston and the Wonder Women" has finally found a release date to follow mere months after the release of the long-awaited "Wonder Woman" film which ended up being one of the greatest blockbuster successes of the entire year as well as to the superhero origin genre.

"Professor Marston and the Wonder Women" tells the story of Dr. William Moulton Marston, who lived in a polyamorous threesome with his wives Elizabeth and Olive. There is a sex and love-positive approach to the story in its inclusion of not only polyamory but also elements of BDSM. The topic of kinks and even the slightest deviations in standards of normalcy regarding romantic and sexual relationships is often treated in a problematic, fetishising manner when brought to life in mainstream films and television series. A film such as this is not only important to relaying the origins of one of the most beloved superheroes in the world but to put forth a more socially progressive depiction of these socially ostracised groups.

Angela Robinson was joined by stars Luke Evans and Rebecca Hall to discuss the process of making this film and the importance of the content at a panel at New York Comic Con.

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The inaugural Split Screens Festival began on Friday June 2 and wrapped on Thursday June 8 with jam-packed programming ranging from fan-favourites Mr. Robot and Orphan Black to more indie darlings such as The Girlfriend Experience and Brockmire.

Program director and seasoned film/television critic Matt Zoeller Seitz spoke to us leading up to the festival's premiere and shared that the preparation for a new festival involved playing to their strengths by focusing more on talent and programming based in the New York area. Seitz also took care to keep the fans in mind when selecting shows to highlight, being aware of the power of fandoms such as Orphan Black's Clone Club and Hannibal's Fannibals.

"This is a festival for fans."

Listen to our full interview with Matt Zoeller Seitz here:

Rami Malek attended a one-on-one panel in which he answered many questions about the inner mechanisms of playing Elliot Alderson on USA Network's Mr. Robot. Questions from the moderator and audience ranged from the wear-and-tear of playing such dark material, the portrayal of mental illness, and the filming of the show's complex sequences. Watch the panel here:

With the final season about to premiere, the Clone Club turned out in full force from all over the world in order to attend this send-off panel to the beloved sci-fi series. The cast answered questions about the technical aspects of filming the show, reminisced about the journey, and were moved to tears as many fans in the audience shared stories of the show helping them to come to terms with their sexual orientation. Watch the Orphan Black panel here:

Keeping in line with groundbreaking characters and representation, the series Billions held a panel that focused on the character of Taylor, the first major gender non-binary character to appear on television. In attendance were the show's producers as well as actor Asia Kate Dillon, who is also non-binary, to discuss the character's creative origins, their journey on the series thus far, and more. Watch the Billions panel here:

Brockmire stars Hank Azaria and Amanda Peet delivered tremendous laughs, particularly when Azaria unleashed a wealth of impersonations and characters. But they also shared greater insight into their alcoholic characters, thoughts on social media, and what's to come in season 2. Watch the Brockmire panel here:

Following a screening of the show's first season finale, The Girlfriend Experience co-creators/writers/directors Lodge Kerrigan and Amy Seimetz (via Skype call) discussed their creative process as the driving force behind the series, the complexity of the season finale, and shared hints as to how they would be approaching the season season. Watch The Girlfriend Experience panel here:

Following a last-minute cancellation of the Underground panel, a replacement panel was added to the programming. As the original panel was to take place before an already-scheduled Hannibal panel, the Split Screens team were fast-thinking and added another Hannibal panel to lead into it. This one involved a screening of the penultimate episode "The Number of the Beast Is 666" followed by a quick panel with series actor Raúl Esparza, who agreed to come earlier for the audience. Watch his solo panel here:

The final panel of Split Screens was the originally planned Hannibal one that followed a screening of the series finale "The Wrath of the Lamb" to a room full of Fannibals donning flower crowns. Following the screening, Raúl Esparza and a team of creative individuals inspired by Hannibal spoke about how the series inspired them. Bryan Fuller also joined in to speak on the panel via Skype. Watch the full Hannibal panel here:

Despite being a new festival, Split Screens has delivered a high quality of programming and demonstrated a skilled adaptability in their recovery after a last-minute panel cancellation. Program director and moderator Matt Zoeller Seitz was personable with the panelists and engaging with the largely fan-dominant audience. Split Screens has all the makings of becoming a massively popular festival stop for TV-lovers in years to come.

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