Mark Hamill was ready to quit but his wife had other ideas

Sydney Morning Herald

3 days ago

Meanwhile, actor Ryan Gosling brought all of his Kenergy to the Hall H panel for the highly anticipated 2026 science fiction thriller, Project Hail Mary.
Gosling appeared with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, writer Drew Goddard and author Andy Weir, who wrote the book on which the film is based. And they brought their Comic-Con A-game, screening the first five minutes of the film to rapturous applause.
In the film, Gosling plays an astronaut named Ryland Grace who wakes up on a spaceship 'with no memory of himself or his mission [and] slowly deduces he is the sole survivor of a crew sent to the Tau Ceti solar system searching for a solution to a catastrophic event on Earth.'
Not letting that slide by, Paramount threw down a hefty and hilarious sci-fi gauntlet, teasing an episode planned for the fourth season of their flagship Star Trek title Strange New Worlds, in which the cast and guest characters are all played by puppets.
The series will 'boldly explore the puppet-verse,' according to Paramount. A short teaser clip - featuring a puppet-ised Captain Christopher Pike, voiced by actor Anson Mount, was a crowd pleaser in Hall H. (See below for this, and other trailers.) And these puppets will come with real pedigree, created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.
An advance screening of an upcoming episode of Strange New Worlds, titled A Space Adventure Hour, was a part-glitchy debut of the show's famous 'holodeck', and part homage of 1950s-style B-movie sci-fi.
While the convention itself was missing some of the majors – no Star Wars projects, and no new movies from either Marvel and DC Comics – DC did send Peacemaker star John Cena, who turned up in full costume, and Peacemaker producer (and Superman director) James Gunn.
In the series, Cena plays patriotic mercenary Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker, who first appeared in Gunn's 2021 film The Suicide Squad. The significance of the character has amplified since, as Gunn has taken over management of the entire DC Comics film and TV franchise. His debut film reboot, Superman, is one of the year's movie hits.
Comic-Con's four-day calendar of panels and appearances included Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood, director Rob Reiner, Outlander star Sam Heughan, Captain America Anthony Mackie, NCIS: Tony & Ziva stars Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo, Timothy Olyphant (Alien: Earth), Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride (The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon) and Australian actors Sam Reid, promoting Anne Rice's The Talamasca: The Secret Order, and Ryan Kwanten, promoting Primitive War.
American sports executive Jeanie Buss - the president and controlling owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers - also made an appearance on the WOW: Women of Wrestling panel, revealing that as a kid, she was an obsessive fan of both Wonder Woman and Supergirl. (Gunn's new Superman movie, in which Supergirl appears, gets a big thumbs up from her.)
And Star Wars creator George Lucas is scheduled to close the convention with a Hall H appearance to unveil the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, an 11-acre campus in LA's Exposition Park, 'dedicated to the art of illustrated stories.' The museum, which will focus on painting, photography, sculpture, illustration, comic art, performance and video, will open in 2026.
San Diego Comic-Con was launched in 1970, and is now the world's biggest fan convention. The four-day event is sold out, and is expected to sink more than $US150 million ($230 million) into the local economy. The convention wraps Monday, Sydney time.