Comic Con 2014: Fan Favorites Panel Featuring Retta, Colin O’Donoghue, Aisha Tyler, Misha Collins + More!

During Comic Con 2014, TV Guide held what has become an annual panel focusing on Fan Favorites. This time around the panelists included Retta (Donna Meagle on Parks & Recreation), Colin O’Donoghue (Captain Hook/Killian Jones on Once Upon a Time), Aisha Tyler (Lana Kane on Archer), Misha Collins (Castiel on Supernatural), John Noble (Henry Parrish on Sleepy Hollow), Jordan Gavaris (Felix Dawkins on Orphan Black), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones) and Sam Heughan (Jamie Fraser on Outlander). Acting as moderator for the panel was Damian Holbrook, who – of course – works for TV Guide.

The first question of the panel was about unique fan experiences with Gwendoline mentioning that she had recently gone in for dental work and once her mouth was rigged up with no way for her to talk, the dental assistant grilled her on what was happening in the show. Misha then shared that he met a woman who could do nothing but cry, quickly becoming a very awkward situation and John getting mistaken for another actor by a “fan”. Aisha shared that she got to be the moderator for the Penny Dreadful panel and all the while she was doing her best to keep it together because she is such a big fan of the show.

The conversation then turned to the devoted fandoms surrounding Supernatural with Misha sharing that they are very vocal and he does his best to remain Switzerland because they are a “polarizing force” so he has to “parse his words carefully”. The same can be said for Sam who is appearing in a show that doesn’t debut until August 9 and already has a huge international fandom. Jordan commented that “the clone club are the most voracious fans than anything else (he has ever experienced)”.

When talking about iconic roles, Colin shared that taking on the role of Captain Hook was “intimidating” (to say the least) but “I think it’s worked.” Sam also said that his character of Jamie Fraser is “deeply rooted in the fan’s hearts and we just hope they will enjoy the show.”

When the topic turned to spoilers, the panelists all agreed that is a topic they do not like. In fact, they find those questions the hardest to answer since most of the time they don’t know very much nor do they want to know very much. To be honest, most of them hate spoiler questions [keep that in mind fellow press folk!]

Before the panel turned over to the audience for their questions, each of the panelists were asked what TV shows are their favorites. The answers might surprise you:

• Retta – The Walking Dead, Scandal, Game of Thrones, True Blood, Suits and The Vampire Diaries
• Colin – Game of Thrones and Hannibal
• Aisha – Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, Salem, Penny Dreadful, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead and Vikings
• Misha – Orphan Black, Game of Thrones and House of Cards
• Jordan – Fringe, House of Cards, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Breaking Bad
• Gwen – True Detective and Breaking Bad
• Sam – Hannibal

John then said he was intimidated by their list of shows, asking “when do you have the time?” Thankfully for us viewers we have a bit more time than the panelists to enjoy all that TV has to offer!