THE FOLLOWING at Comic-Con: Live-Blog

THE FOLLOWING is at Comic-Con, and the cast and producers will tease a bit of what comes next.

Check out the official panel description, and follow along for live updates starting around 11:15 AM PT…

“Hit thriller The Following returns to Comic-Con for a third year. Series stars Kevin Bacon (Mystic River), Shawn Ashmore (X-Men: The Last Stand), Sam Underwood (Dexter), and Jessica Stroup (90210) will join creator/executive producer Kevin Williamson (Scream) and executive producer Marcos Siega (The Vampire Diaries) for an on-stage Q&A and video presentation. With Joe Carroll once again behind bars, Lily Gray shot in cold blood by Mike Weston, and Luke dead at the hands of Max Hardy, Ryan Hardy’s conviction to forge a new life will be put to the test in the psychologically intense third season, when a new villain emerges from the shadows, proving to be even more insidious and dangerous than his former archenemy, Joe Carroll.From Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Outerbanks Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television, The Following‘s third season premieres midseason on FOX.”

11:17 AM: And we’re starting with panelists introductions!

11:17 AM: Siega says they’re showing the show’s alternate season 2 ending that will appear on the DVD. And yes, the other ending included Joe dying — he would have been killed by Mark. A completely chilling scene to see Joe slowly die as Ryan held his hand.

11:21 AM: “A lot different, but then not, because the thing about season 3 is we always saw it as a reset — it was chapter 3 of Ryan Hardy’s journey that may or may not include Joe Carroll,” Williamson says. He says they don’t know how much they’ll use Joe next season.

“It was an opportunity to open up a new chapter in his life…it’s years earlier than even the pilot,” Bacon says. Bacon says he thinks it’s the same mindset for Ryan, whether Joe is alive or dead.

11:24 AM: “”It really was a season about masks,” Bacon says, noting at the start, Ryan was hiding his continued obsession. “I think next season, I will truly be in a better place in my life, and hopefully open to real, and hopefully lasting relationships in my life.”

11:25 AM: “I literally did not know what was going to happen until it happened on TV,” Ashmore says of the finale. “Losing James Purefoy and Joe Carroll would have been tough.”

Stroup says she thought it was going to be a bigger ending if Joe died. But there was a “relief” when the aired version happened, because they all like Purefoy.

“It was going to be provocative either way,” Underwood says. “I have to stick with the side of the psychopaths on this show, and say I’m glad he’s around.”

“Not even James knew [which ending would air],” Williamson says.

11:28 AM: “Ryan finds love, and he’s in an incredibly happy place, but we’re going to challenge that,” Johnson says.

On the new big bad: A “bigger, badder, more complicated villain at him…we’re going to turn the title on its head…we’re bringing back the psychological mystery,” Johnson teases.

11:31 AM: “I think it’s safe to say we do jump ahead a year…there’s this ray of light in Mike’s life [with Max],” Ashmore says. He does point out that he’s killed people in front of Max. He thinks what will be interesting will be how difficult it is for the two to make it work.

11:33 AM: “Ryan Hardy will have been looking at every case out there to make sure they’re not Joe Carroll-related,” Johnson teases. Plus,  “A brand new threat is going to face New York, and New York is going to be under lockdown.” New York will be a character this year.

11:36 AM: We’re going to learn more about Joe and what he was hoping to accomplish this season.

11:37 AM: “Really, keep your eyes glued to the screen, he may appear in a place you won’t expect to find him,” Johnson says of Mark’s return. “He’ll be hiding in plain sight.”

11:40 AM: “It was really hard, because I loved that character so much,” Williamson says of Emma. “She went from one line in that pilot, to this extraordinary character…I didn’t want to kill her, but I did know it was her time.”

He says they also brought back Claire so she could be the one to kill Emma.

11:40 AM: Will Claire return? “Maybe. I don’t know. We’ll see.”

“What we know so far is they’re happy together,” Bacon says of his new love interest. “She’s a doctor. We are living together. And she has a daughter. So I’m actually trying to experience some domesticity.”

11:42 AM: “This season, it will be very important for Ryan to try and break that pattern,” Johnson says of Ryan’s attempts to be healthy and not influence the people around him in a bad way.

11:44 AM: Are Max and Mike living together?

“Keep your hands off my niece,” Bacon jokes.

Johnson teases this is young love, and it’s a different kind of relationship than the one Ryan is in.

11:47 AM: “It was a surprise in terms of social media reaction,” Siega says of people responding to the mystery of who was in the car.

11:48 AM: Who do they think is in the car?

Stroup: Carrie

Ashmore: Someone we hadn’t met yet.

Bacon: Claire’s son, Joey.

Underwood: He wanted it to be Keith Carradine’s character.

But Williamson confirms it is someone we haven’t met.

11:50 AM: The producers say that they don’t think we’ll see Carrie this season.

11:51 AM: Was Dr. Strauss saying that Joe wasn’t even his best student a hint for the new villain? Maybe, maybe not, the EPs say.

11:52 AM: “You may not know this, but I live and breathe Jack Bauer…that would be a dream come true to me,” Williamson says of 24/The Following crossover. But, realistically, the worlds don’t fit together.

11:54 AM: If he had the chance to do it again, would Ryan kill Joe? “I think given the opportunity again, I would probably do the same thing,” Bacon says.

11:55 AM: A fan asks Bacon if she’s now a 1 or 2 on the Bacon scale, and he says technically it means you need to be in a movie together, so he films the Con audience to make us “stars” with him.

11:56 AM: “He’s more DAWSON’S CREEK than THE FOLLOWING,” Siega says when he’s asked whether he’s scared of Williamson.

11:57 AM: Williamson says they don’t have problems with censors and he’s squeamish, too, so he’s censored more than people might think.

11:59 AM: “I don’t think there’s a damn thing Ryan could do to stop Mike from doing anything he did this season,” Ashmore says when he’s asked if Ryan is responsible for the path he’s on.

12:00 PM: Craziest part of season 2?

Underwood: “I never danced with a corpse before, so that was pretty insane.”

Siega points at the subway sequence because he grew up in New York.

Bacon and Williamson point to the final dinner scene in the finale. Johnson agrees. (Siega also adds he loved Ryan and Joe working together.)

Ashmore: “The satisfaction of killing Lily Gray.” He was worried whether people thought it would be too dark, but it went over well, and was “an amazing release.”

Stroup: “I really liked getting to shoot one of the twins.”

12:04 PM: Underwood reminds that when he auditioned for the show, they didn’t tell him he was playing twins, they told him he was a man with multiple personalities. Underwood says the show needed Luke to die for Mark to progress.

12:06 PM: They based the mid-season cults on real cults.

12:07 PM: “It was freezing,” Siega says of working through the big storms. “If you look for it, there are snow inconsistencies,” Seiga laughs.

12:09 PM: “For most stable-minded people who watch television, they can recognize it’s fiction,” Williamson says when asked whether people’s fears or concerns about copycats plays into the writing process.

12:10 PM: Williamson gives a shout out to his new series, STALKER.

12:11 PM: Ashmore says when Mike “watched” his father die, the screen during shooting was black, and “I never met the actor who played my dad.” Williamson praises the work Ashmore did, especially in that scene.

12:12 PM: “I guarantee I have socks that are older to you,” Kevin Bacon to a young fan who says she has loved him for a very long time, after he thanks her.

12:14 PM: Bacon says he was excited to play a good character after playing a bunch of bad guys, and he’s thankful so many people are here to support the show.

–

And we’re done!

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