Does it matter that Game of Thrones is skipping Comic-Con this year?

The 2018 San Diego Comic-Con, one of the year’s biggest events for fans of pop culture, kicks off this Thursday, and for the first time in its seven-year history, Game of Thrones won’t have any kind of presence. Neither will Westworld, HBO’s other splashy genre hit. Marvel Studios won’t be there, either, nor will Starz’ time-hopping drama Outlander.

But the Transformers franchise will have a main stage panel for the first time ever, which is good…

So a lot of prominent franchises are sitting this event out. Why would they do that? After all, cons are big business for movie and TV studios, with last year’s Comic-Con being responsible for $30.5 million in audience reach, according to Warner Bros. Television Group chief marketing officer Lisa Gregorian. With that kind of money at risk, can companies really afford to skip SDCC? Or maybe the event just isn’t as important as it used to be. After all, there are a lot more conventions around then there used to be; studios can be choosier about which they attend.

Speaking to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Comic-Con international spokesman David Glanzer doesn’t think there’s cause for alarm, stressing that studio attendance tends to go in cycles. “I know people get nervous,” he said. “I would look at next year. It sounds weird, but some of these people will be returning next year.”

That’s true enough; HBO all but but promised to come back in its press release announcing Game of Thrones’ absence:

"HBO has a longstanding relationship with SDCC, and we are very grateful for the fans’ enthusiastic response over the years. We look forward to returning in the future."

Gregorian, too, doesn’t think fans should read too much into whether any given studio is there or not. “Being there is all about timing,” Gregorian said. “If it makes sense, the studios will be there. If you can’t deliver a great fan experience you don’t want to go.”

That may be reflective of the different way studios are looking at Comic-Con these days. According to Heidi MacDonald, editor of comic book news website The Beat, studios still know that they stand to gain a lot by having a good showing, but if a good showing isn’t in the cards, they’re more comfortable biding their time. “They think if we’re really not ready, we shouldn’t go out there,” MacDonald said. “The danger of getting bad buzz is so huge.”

So it’s not that studios are writing off Comic-Con; it’s that they no longer feel they have to show up every year as a matter of course, even if they don’t have anything new to show. I can get behind that.

And Game of Thrones, of course, is in an off-year, so we can assume they don’t have much to show at the moment. I also wonder if, filming on the eighth and final season just having wrapped, they’re taking care not to give the cast and crew members any opportunities to slip up and spoil anything. In any case, I expect the whole gang to be back in 2019 for a glorious post-season 8 victory lap.

Next: Dark Horse launches new collectibles store, leads with Game of Thrones figurines

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h/t Deadline