Sundays at Comic-Con tend to be the slowest of all four days, with the event coming to an end at an earlier time (5pm), most of the attendees choose to walk the floor and make their last-minute purchases before heading home. Regardless, fans still have plenty to see, and even with popular hit TV shows dominating the monstrous Hall H, CBS’ newest sci-fi drama, Under the Dome, was still able to find its place amongst attendees. Producers Brian K. Vaughan and Neal Baer, accompanied by stars Rachelle Lefevre, Dean Norris, and Mike Vogel, hit the Comic-Con stage to discuss the current season, provide insight into the characters, and tease what’s coming up in future episodes. Hit the jump for highlights from the panel.
Before the panel began, the audience was treated to a screening of Under Dome’s newest episode — set to air Monday. While we won’t go into details about what the episode entailed, we can say that it will bring about more complications to some of the relationships that have formed in Chester’s Mill and allow us to learn a little bit more about certain characters. Secrets are starting to be revealed and it makes for some highly entertaining drama. The screening was followed by a moderated session and a short Q&A with fans.
- It’s important for the show to keep their characters relatable. Baer thinks that the show’s success consists mainly of viewers being able to identify themselves with the characters.
- While the thought of Julia and “Barbie” possibly getting together seems a bit twisted — due to the fact that he killed her husband — Lefevre doesn’t dismiss the idea of a future hookup but she said the characters have a long way to go and a lot to talk about, “The journey is a good one,” she assured.
- The character of “Barbie” is still an enigma that viewers and the characters are trying to figure out. We know bits and pieces of what he’s done and Vogel said he likes that his character is mysterious and unknown. At the end, people will have to make a choice whether to get past some of his least-favorable choices or not. “Throwing Julia into the mix complicates things even more,” Vogel noted.
- A character that’s made a radical change since the dome came down — or perhaps just shown his true colors — has been Junior. After locking his girlfriend Angie in his family’s bomb shelter, viewers can only wonder whether his psychotic behavior comes from his father. “Junior is just misunderstood,” Norris said, adding that we’ll be learning more about that character and revealing that his deceased mother will come into play.
- Viewers who have read King’s novel might think they have an idea of what to expect but there are changes coming along the way. “We wanted to do something different,” Vaughan noted, confirming that King encouraged them to use the show as a way to take the characters in different directions and make changes to the original story in order to surprise the audience.
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Lefevre really enjoys the fact that Julia is a character who doesn’t follow in the footsteps of her male counterparts and doesn’t come across as your typical emotional female. “I think TV needs strong female characters,” she noted. While she admits that Julia does possess vulnerabilities and emotions, Lefevre said she was really attracted to playing a character that shows restraint when displaying her feelings.
- The dome came down, trapping everyone in town, but there are so many other residents that we’ve yet to meet them all. Expect to see some mysterious women in town that according to Baer will be “crucial to unfolding the story.”
- While the series was originally going to air on Showtime, producers said there weren’t any changes to the script — except for the eradication of stronger language — when it moved to CBS. The script had only been written at the time and nothing was shot until it was picked up by the network channel.
- Viewers will soon learn more about the dome and what it is. “It’s not something the characters will be digging themselves out of,” Vaughan pointed out. While not all questions will be answered by the end of the season, Episode 7 will tell if the dome is actually a sphere or not. Its powers also remain a mystery, which add to the possibility of seeing character’s like Jeff Fahey’s Sheriff Duke, reappearing in future episodes.
- Finally, the cast is currently filming Under the Dome’s season finale, which Vaughan said will end in a “hell of a cliffhanger.” Fans can expect a shocker, “If we’re not lucky enough to come back for another season, you guys are just screwed,” Vaughan added.