Aubrey Plaza, Dan Stevens talk ‘Legion’ at Comic Con day 1 — VIDEO
SAN DIEGO — Among the highlights of Comic-Con Day 1 was a TV series whose title pretty much sums up all of Comic-Con: “Stranger Things.”
‘Legion’
Noah Hawley is having a moment not seen in television since Aaron Sorkin was simultaneously running “The West Wing” and “Sports Night.”
As the creator of FX’s “Fargo” and its Marvel series, “Legion,” Hawley is responsible for two of the most clever, visually stylish series on TV. “You know, you come home, you’re out of words, and you sleep very little,” he told me at a “Legion” event. “But it’s fun. If you’re having a moment, you’ve gotta have the moment.”
Aubrey Plaza, who portrays Lenny in the insanely twisty series, says she had a bit of an idea where her character was going in Season 1. “I knew broad strokes,” she said. “I kind of knew where I was going, but not how I was going to get there.”
“See, I didn’t even know that,” interjected Dan Stevens (“Beauty and the Beast”), who stars as David Haller, who is either schizophrenic, a mutant or both. “I didn’t even know there were strokes.”
Co-star Jean Smart, who’s been a TV star since “Designing Women” hit the air in 1986, said she’s never seen anything like the popularity of “Legion.” (The event took place in the Hilton Bayfront, whose 30-something-story exterior was covered in a poster for the show.)
“This is exciting, and people are just flipping out over it,” Smart said of the drama. “People come up to me and say, ‘You know, I don’t entirely understand it, but I can’t wait to see more.’”
Adam West remembrance
One of the final events of Day 1 was a remembrance of Adam West, who died June 9.
Kevin Smith, a Batman superfan, spoke of how he would race home from school each day to watch the TV series. Then he recalled one of his early encounters with West, long after Smith had become a successful director. “I said, ‘You were the person who made me want to be good.’ And he was just like, ‘That doesn’t speak well of your parents.’”
An emotional Lee Meriwether, one of West’s three Catwomen, recalled her first time meeting the actor. “I had a little crush,” she said, blushing. “The first time we worked together, we danced together,” Meriwether said later. “All I could think of is, ‘I’m dancing with Adam West!’”
‘Galactica’ reunion
There are few things more helpful than having a “Las Vegas Review-Journal” nameplate in front of you at a roundtable interview. “Well, my mom lives in Vegas, so I want this to be a very slanted interview, very favorable,” executive producer David Eick said during a “Battlestar Galactica” reunion. Eick’s mother, Toby Stoffa, has owned Antiquities at Caesars Palace for more than a quarter century. “Go in there. She’ll sell you something wholesale,” Eick joked. “Tell her I sent you.”
Aaron Douglas, who played Chief Galen Tyrol on the Syfy series, sat down and proclaimed, “I love Las Vegas.”
“They allow you to be an adult and make your own choices. I like that idea,” he elaborated. “If I want another beverage, I can go get another beverage. If I wanna make an ass of myself, I can make an ass of myself. I love just letting people be human beings, come what may.”
‘Stranger Things’
You could spend an entire Comic-Con and never set foot in the convention center.
The Netflix Experience went all out to promote “Stranger Things.”
Sure, there were free T-shirts for Marvel’s upcoming “Defenders” as well as costumes from the series. And there was more swag along with props from the upcoming Will Smith movie “Bright.”
But a replica of the Byers home from “Stranger Things” had walls that would come to life if you called out to the missing Will. The Christmas lights that Joyce (Winona Ryder) used to communicate with him were there, too. A virtual reality experience re-created the moment the Monster first appeared in the house in terrifying detail. And, inside another installation was a memorial to poor, sad Barb.
‘FXhibition’
As part of “FXhibition,” the channel offered an old-fashioned 60-second zoetrope that promised “a tease” of the new season of “American Horror Story.” Based on what I saw, the new season will lean heavily into beehives and women making out with each other.
Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567. Follow @life_onthecouch on Twitter.
