Comic-Con: Essential Panels, Surprises + Backstage With Ricky Whittle Of ‘American Gods’

“It’s like Disneyland for adults — I still geek out,” American Gods star and Comic-Con veteran Ricky Whittle says of the colossal San Diego confab that officially kicks off tomorrow. To help negotiate the July 20-23 fanboy and fangirl extravaganza, Whittle and his backstage insights joined Deadline to, er, whittle the hundreds of panels, activations and events that fill SDCC’s schedule to its core essentials.

Check out Deadline’s Comic-Con 2017 video preview and see who, what and where the real action is this year. “It’s all about Saturday,” says Anthony of the movie side of the confab. Warner Bros is “showing off their future DC slate with Justice League, and there is going to be a sneak peak of Aquaman — they’re also bringing Spielberg down with Ready Player One,” he says. But of course, expect surprises from Marvel, which had a wall of heroes onstage at D23 last week and have covered San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter in banners for the Black Panther movie and the new Thor sequel.

Why does 130,000 people getting every year in San Diego matter so much? Well, from the multi-hour Hall H presentations and superhero-filled previews from Marvel, Warner Bros and other movie studios, TV also will roll out its small-screen blockbusters with Game Of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Doctor Who, Stranger Things and The Defenders among those grabbing the spotlight. The combo has resulted in creating a confab that has become a cultural and financial powerhouse — an engine that puts pedal to the metal in Hollywood.

Also, watch Whittle reveal his SDCC plans is this year, and what it was like for the lead in the Starz series based on Neil Gaiman’s bestseller to be onstage last year with the superstar author.