Now that this year’s Comic-Con has ended in San Diego, let’s take a look at five of the biggest stories to emerge from the annual shindig — which seems to break more TV news with each passing year.
‘The Simpsons’/’Family Guy’ crossover episode
TV’s biggest prime-time animated shows will have a much-anticipated crossover episode airing Sept. 28 on Fox, the same night a major “Simpsons” character will be dispatched to Kingdom Come.
While the crossover news was previously reported, a four-minute clip was screened during the “Family Guy” panel, and we finally see what all the fuss is about.
Included in those four minutes: subtle references to hard feelings between the shows; allusions to other Fox ’toons past — “The Cleveland Show,” whose main character, Cleveland Brown, literally goes down in flames — and present (“Bob’s Burgers”); and Stewie from “Family Guy” failing to pull off one of Bart Simpson’s trademark prank calls to Moe’s Tavern.
Mary-Louise Parker joins ‘The Blacklist’
The former “Weeds” star has been added to the cast of “The Blacklist” in the recurring role of Naomi Highland, but series creator Jon Bokenkamp would only say that she’s “completely tied to Reddington,” alluding to James Spader’s character: enigmatic, murderous, rogue ex-FBI agent Raymond “Red” Reddington, who’s obsessed (we still don’t know why) with FBI agent Liz Keen (Megan Boone).
The news is a big deal, since “The Blacklist” had such a strong freshman season — and killed off a major character played by Parminder Nagra in the season finale.
Possible ‘Sons of Anarchy’ prequel
Like its cable colleague “Breaking Bad,” which is spawning a prequel (“Better Call Saul”), “Sons of Anarchy” creator Kurt Sutter says he’s in “serious conversations” for a prequel or maybe even a miniseries following the upcoming seventh and final season.
But don’t expect a spinoff. “There’ll be no spinoffs,” Sutter said. “I think spinoffs work well on procedural dramas, which this clearly is not.”
New cast members for ‘Game of Thrones’
The biggest drama in HBO history announces a slew of new cast members for Season 5: Alexander Siddig as Doran Martell, the older brother of Prince Oberyn; Toby Sebastian as Trystane Martell, Doran’s son; Jonathan Pryce as High Sparrow, a religious leader in King’s Landing; Keisha Castle-Hughes as Obara Sand, Oberyn’s eldest daughter; Nell Tiger Free as Myrcella Baratheon, Cersei and Jaime Lannister’s eldest child; DeObia Oparei as Areo Hotah, the captain of Doran Martell’s palace guard; Jessica Henwick as Nymeria Sand, second eldest of Oberyn Martell’s bastard daughters; Enzo Cilenti as Yezzan, a former slave-trader; and Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand, another daughter of Oberyn.
Keep on ‘Walking’
“The Walking Dead” trailer for the upcoming fifth season, which premieres Oct. 12 on AMC.