Dune, The Wheel of Time, other big names cancel Comic-Con panels

San Diego Comic-Con, one of the biggest pop culture events of the year, goes down this weekend…and it couldn’t have come at a weirder time. Hollywood writers have been on strike for months. And as of last week, actors are now on strike. SDCC runs on panel discussions about big shows and movies, and the panelists are mainly writers and actors. With none of those people showing up, what’s left?

Rather than find out, a lot of big-name studios decided weeks ago that they would skip SDCC for this year. That includes Disney, Universal, Warner Bros., Sony and Netflix. That said, there were still some big panels planned, but with the actors now on strike, those are starting to get the axe, as well; The A.V. Club reports that panels about Dune: Part Two and The Wheel of Time have been canceled. A panel about AMC’s Interview With the Vampire has also been nixed.

There will still be plenty of panels to entertain people, including ones about Invincible, Star Trek, Rick And Morty, The Walking Dead, What We Do In The Shadows, Twisted Metal, The Continental and the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. But there won’t be any actors or writers on those panels, so things will probably feel a little odd.

Actors and writers won’t be at Comic-Con, “but that hasn’t diminished the anticipation”

Passes for SDCC were sold out months beforehand, as per usual, back when attendees assumed that actors and writers (well, at least actors) would be present. A Comic-Con spokesperson doesn’t anticipate any issues over this: “This is obviously an unusual year, but that hasn’t diminished the anticipation for Comic-Con,” they said.

We’ll see. SDCC will run from this Thursday through Sunday, July 20-23.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels