COMIC-CON: ORPHAN BLACK PANEL BRINGS AUDIENCE TO TEARS

The Clone Club was in full effect in room 6A (which is way too small for Orphan Black fans; take note for next year, SDCC planners!) at San Diego Comic Con this year. You could feel the electricity of excitement in the room. The creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson came out followed by cast members Dylan Bruce, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Kristian Bruun, Ari Millen, Jordan Gavaris and the queen, Tatiana Maslany, came out last to a well deserved standing ovation.

Once the Q & A session started it began with a member of the clone club giving Tatiana Maslany an award for Best Actress in the world (over 10,000 signatures agreed with this award online). Tatiana was grateful for the award and said it meant more to her than an Emmy would.

The highlight of the panel was when a young teenage girl approached the microphone and said very tearfully that before she started watching Orphan Black, she was in the closet and hated herself. She started watching the show and saw how Cosima wasn’t defined by her sexuality. She said her parents didn’t accept her as being gay and she started to watch the show with her mother. Once her mother saw Cosima and how her character wasn’t all about her sexuality, she started to rebuild her relationship with her mother and she thanked Tatiana and Jordan for that. She told them that they saved her life. This girl’s story touched everyone in the room including Tatiana. The young girl then asked them, what it was like to have that affect on peoples’ lives and making people more comfortable with who they are? Tatiana was practically speechless and wiped away a tear and said, “”That’s amazing. I mean, I have no words. That’s incredible.”

Jordan (who I love even more after this panel which I didn’t think was possible) had a perfect answer. He said, “We like to be reductive in life sometimes. I don’t know why. It’s a social construct. A social trend. Whatever you want to call it. We reduce people down to things like sexuality. Their diseases like cancer or MS, or their race, or their sex, or their gender. Or whether or not they like Game of Thrones. That is not what people are. People are complex, people are diverse. There are much more interesting things about you than your sexuality.”

It was hard to move on from that story, but the panel continued and we saw favorite clips from season 2, we found out we might be meeting Alison’s mother next season, and that there is an awesome deleted scene of Donnie from the finale that involves him trying to blackmail someone that can be seen on the Season 2 DVD.

This panel seemed way too short and they ended it showing the clip of the epic dance party from season 2. This was my favorite panel all weekend and that girl’s story was so touching.

The next day during the TV Guide’s Fan favorite’s panel, Jordan was asked what his favorite fan moment was and he referred to this girl’s story at Comic Con. Amazing! See what he said in the video below!

The clone club had plenty to do all weekend, as they had Orphan Black merchandise for sale in the BBC booth as well as an awesome clone photo booth. So what do you think? Do I make a good Seestra?

Season 3 of Orphan Black returns to BBC America in Spring 2015. Until then you can follow the show on Twitter @OrphanBlack