Best known as the wise-crackin', Juliet-lovin' Sawyer on Lost, Josh Holloway is back in a completely different guise for new hi-tech thriller drama Intelligence.
The CBS series - not due to premiere until February 2014 - sees Holloway play Gabriel, an intelligence operative who has a microchip in his brain that gives him full access to the internet, wifi and satellite data.
Today's panel for the show will include a screening of the pilot episode as well as a Q&A with the cast.
Please note that all times in this live blog are Pacific, which is eight hours behind the UK and three hours behind the East Coast.
Hello and welcome to the start of my coverage of this year's Comic-Con. After five hours of queueing outside, I'm now seated in Ballroom 20, my makeshift home for today.
First on the agenda today is Intelligence, followed by a panel for new teen alien drama Star-Crossed. Following that we have Beauty and the Beast, Psych and Sherlock, finishing up with a very exciting reunion panel for The X-Files.
But first up, Intelligence. The panels for new shows are always a little strange - we get to see the entire pilot episode, which eats away at most of the hour timeslot, then the cast are rushed out onstage for an unfulfilling Q&A.
If you've yet to see a trailer for this series, take a look here:
I've yet to see the pilot but my guess is it's CBS, it's a crime drama, it has a strong lead... it should be solid enough, if generic.
Just a minute or two now until we get underway on this panel. People are still streaming in at the back, if you excuse the expression, but it's a big room to fill and there are thousands of people waiting outside.
Wondering if we'll hear Josh Holloway say "freckles" at any point today.
In case you missed it, I wrote this piece previewing the most exciting panels to look out for in the coming days.
A lot of Katy Perry being played into the room while we wait for the session to start. It's the first one of the day and we're already running late; once we've seen the episode there's probably only going to be a maximum of ten minutes of Sawyer-time.
Also on the panel today - assuming it ever happens - we'll have Meghan Ory and Marg Helgenberger from the cast, plus executive producers Michael Seitzman, René Echevarria and Tripp Vinson.
Still no sign of the session starting. Might start a chant of "Sawyer" to help get things moving.
"I know we're a couple of minutes late," says the Comic-Con head honcho as he arrives on stage. Yeah, and the rest, love.
Huge screams from the ladies as a TV Guide magazine with Holloway on the cover is raised into the air.
The episode begins so it's time for me to shut shop for a while. Catch you on the flip.
So there we go. Pretty much as I'd predicted, if a little underwhelming. A bit corny in places, but then I suppose these things usually are.
The moderator for the panel, who was supposed to be a woman called Debra but is some bloke called William instead, brings out the cast and execs.
How similar to Six Million Dollar Man? Seltzman: "We talk about that show all the time. I think with inflation we're in the billions now. We ask a lot of the same questions. We try to make a show that is as much human as it is technology, so we ask what part human is left. What today is more important than super strength? In the 70s super strength mattered but now we carry around more information in our pocket than they had on the space shuttle."
Is he happy with the description Cyber-Sawyer? Holloway: "Erm... no. It's a funny dichotomy that they picked me to be the super computer guy, because I don't get techno jargon. I really love the idea of this. It's a dramatic thriller with hot, strong women characters. A mixture between James Bond, Bourne, Mission Impossible... I grew up always wanting to play a secret agent of sorts and this was very interesting, very current, the way our world is changing with technology."
If they had this ability, what would they do with it? Ory: "I dunno, maybe take some amazing test and say I'm really smart, guys." Holloway: "I'd watch lots of Korean drama."
Helgenberger: "I'd love to be able to learn every language, and yeah, seem smart."
Potential for a relationship? Seltzman: "Yep, you know. I look at all these things in the same way, I call it 'the window in the mirror'. Every story has to have a window that makes you feel like you're looking at a world that's not your own, but also a mirror because there have to be aspects that reflect your life. We cast people who are very human, we try to make it look and feel like a family."
Will we see more of the storyline involving Holloway's character's missing wife? Vinson: "You should expect to see more of her and what happened to her, and how Josh is going to deal with all of that."
Seltzman: "We looked for a lot of ways to humanise him. We didn't want him to be a robot. So his wife helps with that."
Any chance of a return to Once Upon A Time? Ory: "Red never died, Ruby never died. She's around somewhere. I think she's just running around the woods in wolf form, just stretching her legs. I think that we'll be seeing her again."
Helgenberger: "CSI was such a wonderful 11 years. I was looking forward to a new challenge but lo and behold, here I am."
And with that, the panel is a wrap. Not a single mention of "freckles". You can join me right here, right now for the next panel, Star-Crossed!
Written by
Neil Wilkes
Neil Wilkes
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