A Weekend of Fandom at San Diego Comic-Con

Comic-Con opened on Monday in San Diego to tens of thousands of fans of film, comics, video games, and TV, and it has a particularly historic guest list this year.

George Lucas, the mastermind behind “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones,” is making his first appearance at the world’s largest fan convention, where he has long held powerful sway, even if he has never before attended.

Comic-Con’s nearly 50-year history is inextricably linked to Lucas’s seminal sci-fi and adventure sagas, and as each generation of fans finds a new way to cosplay, the weekend will focus on his creations in particular.

Lucas, 80, will appear on Sunday on a panel moderated by Queen Latifah about the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which will open in Los Angeles next year. The director will be joined by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and Oscar-winning designer Doug Chiang, who has helped define the look of the Star Wars saga for decades.

The panel, according to Comic-Con, will provide insight into “Lucas’s enthusiasm for celebrating illustrated storytelling and narrative through the visual art of film, comic books, and concept art. The museum will also feature a Lucas archive of his extensive collection.”

Lucas will be at Comic-Con for the first time next week, according to CEO David Glanzer.

“Five decades ago, Star Wars made one of its first public appearances at our convention,” Glanzer said in a statement. “In addition to a screening of the film, we had a booth with [comic book artist] Howard Chaykin’s now-iconic Star Wars poster available as a giveaway. Lucas being here is a true full-circle moment for us.”

Comic-Con has expanded since it began in 1970 with a small assembly of comic book collectors. It now attracts some 130,000 fans each summer to an expansive four-day celebration of storytelling, cinema, and fandom.

Attendees will, of course, be dressing up, trading memorabilia, and queuing to meet their heroes, but Comic-Con is also about first looks at the projects studios and creatives are most excited about. Read on for a quick guide to the must-see moments.

‘Alien’ Saga Returns

In a year that’s seeing Comic-Con lineups for Marvel and DC feature several veteran guests with fresh takes on familiar series, perhaps no other film has sparked the kind of buzz that’s been surrounding the return of Ridley Scott’s “Alien,” a classic of 1970s sci-fi horror.

“The Aliens: Earth” is a prequel series that promises to take a deep dive into the franchise’s mysteries, exploring the world of humanity and extraterrestrial life on Earth a few years before the events of the 1979 film.

Directed by Noah Hawley, the show’s premiere at Comic-Con tomorrow in Hall H, the much-coveted key venue at the convention center, bodes well for its eventual release on streaming services in August.

A new feature also takes place, called “Predator: Badlands.” The latest reboot of the sci-fi franchise is a twist on the familiar concept, with the Predator taking center stage as the alien hunters for the first time. The project will have director Dan Trachtenberg on the panel, who gave a new impetus to the series with his “Prey” last year. Actors Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, who plays the alien Dek in the film, will also be on hand to answer questions from fans.

Marvel Studios takes a break.

Marvel Studios will scale back its presence at Comic-Con this year.

The studio that owns the rights to Marvel’s famous superheroes has confirmed to Variety that it will no longer have its special presentation in Hall H, which it traditionally does for each of its upcoming projects. The main reason is that the filming of the studio’s upcoming “Avengers” sequel in the UK has been on a long break, which made it difficult to plan production at Comic-Con.

Still, Marvel’s absence at Comic-Con won’t be a loss to science fiction geeks. There are enough movie fans ready to step into the void, and Hall H’s lineup promises to deliver some high-energy moments this weekend.

Ryan Gosling in ‘Hail Mary’ and the ‘Peacemaker’ sequel

The movie based on Andy Weir’s latest novel, “Project Hail Mary,” could be a big hit with the Comic-Con crowd this year. Weir is the author of The Martian, a hit film starring Matt Damon, and his latest is just as suitable for space-adventure fans.

The film, due out next year, stars Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace, a former schoolteacher who wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there. At the start of the movie, he quickly realizes he is the world’s only hope to save humanity.

Gosling will attend the Saturday screening of the film along with the directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who recently made the Spider-Verse trilogy. On Sunday, the DC universe will get an update on the second season of the “Peacemaker” series, and that, too, could be a big hit. James Gunn, who is now also leading DC’s next big cinematic reboot with Superman, will be there to answer fan questions along with the cast as he shares behind-the-scenes footage and previews of the upcoming series.