Amazon Prime Video Showcase at SDCC Showcases First Episode of Jack Ryan

Published Sat, 21 Jul 2018 12:15:30 -0500

Erin Wilhelm wrote from San Diego Comic-Con for Bleeding Cool,

Amazon Prime blocked off a whole two hours in one of the largest rooms at Comic-Con for a "video showcase" but didn't really share much more information with audiences. Therefore, fans walking in for the session didn't really know whether it was going to be a panel, several panels, a bunch of footage from different shows? We all knew very little about the next two hours of our lives.

Amazon Prime Video started off with a panel of showrunners for six Prime Original shows, including Carlton Cuse (Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan; Ben Edlund (The Tick); Sam Esmail (Homecoming); Neil Gaiman (Good Omens); Gale Anne Hurd (Lore); and Naren Shankar (The Expanse).

Sam Esmail opened by talking a bit about Homecoming, explaining that while the show would be based on the podcast, the scale would be much, much larger. He also showed a short trailer for the show featuring Julia Roberts.

Ben Edlund treated the crowd to a behind the scenes look at the set of The Tick and shared that the upcoming season would introduce villain Tyrannosaurus Rathbone.

Naren Shankar, showrunner of The Expanse, shared a video of the stars and creators of the show thanking the fans for their large role in saving the show and enabling it to have a fourth season. Shankar also explained that the switch from SyFy to Amazon Prime means that the creators will have a lot more flexibility with things like language and episode length, and that they plan to take advantage of the new medium.

Neil Gaiman, never to be out done, talked to God. Really, he talked to God and God told him not to share any information about Good Omens. Luckily for us, Gaiman is even willing to argue with God, and he started by announcing that God in Good Omens will be played by Frances McDormand (whose disembodied voice warned Gaiman during the panel). A large proportion of the audience were Good Omens fans and Gaiman shared with them a short featurette showing footage of the cast and crew on set being interviewed and limited footage from the show itself.

Gale Anne Hurd showed a new trailer for Lore with new footage from season two, which premieres on October 19th. To be honest, the footage looked terrifying, which I guess is the point, so they are definitely on track. Hurd also announced that Paula Malcomson (Hunger Games), Alicia Witt (The Exorcist), Thomas Kretschmann (Avengers: Age of Ultron), and Doug Bradley (Hellraiser) would be making appearances this season.

Carlton Cuse also had casting news to drop regarding Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, notably that Noomi Rapace would be joining the cast as Harriet "Harry" Baumann, an agent who Jack gets to know in Season 2. Then, instead of showing limited footage or a trailer for Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, Cuse brought out his co-creator Graham Roland and announced that they would be playing the first episode of the show, in its entirety, for the audience. The episode introduced the new incarnation of Jack Ryan, and as per usual, put him in mortal danger multiple times. I'm interested to see if they can make the arc interesting enough to keep fans engaged once the high octane fight scenes have lost their luster. I guess we will have to watch to find out.