The 7 Trailers You Need to See from San Diego Comic-Con 2019

The must-watch teasers and trailers from the biggest geek gathering of the year.

By Carolyn Cox | Published Jul 21, 2019

trailer San Diego Comic-Con — Photo Credit: CBS

This weekend marked the 49th annual San Diego Comic Con. Launched in 1970 under the name Golden State Comic Book Convention, the event has evolved into a multi-genre entertainment bonanza. This year's con featured major news from big properties like Marvel, as well as the debut of hotly-anticipated teasers and previews. Even if you weren't physically present at San Diego Comic-Con this July, there was still a lot to enjoy from the geeky event. Below are seven must-watch trailers from this year's con. Watch them right now—no waiting in line for Hall H required.

The first full trailer of Star Trek: Picard aired as part of the Star Trek Hall H panel. The long-anticipated first look features a seemingly-ageless Patrick Stewart as Picard, who has retired from Starfleet and is seen in the trailer coping with the emotional fallout of his years in the service. The trailer also revealed that iconic Trek actors Brent Spiner, Jeri Ryan, Jonathan Del Arco, and Jonathan Frakes will reprise their respective roles as Data, Seven of Nine, Hugh the Borg, and Commander Riker. The intriguing series will debut in early 2020.

The trailer for the third season of Westworld debuted at the show's Hall H panel. Co-creator Jonathan Nolan spoke about what to expect when the series returns, saying the theme for the third season is "The New World." As The Beat reports, Nolan and team wanted the brave new worlds the androids explore in the coming season to differ from the grimdark dystopias sci-fi audiences are accustomed to: "The thing about dystopias is they can look pretty beautiful right? Just because the world is corrupt on the inside doesn’t mean it can’t be smoothed over and pretty on the outside. We wanted to find ourselves of a version of a dystopia that didn’t look like anything we’d seen before.”

A bewigged Henry Cavill prepares to kick monster butt in this trailer for The Witcher, Netflix's adaptation of the Atari video game franchise (which was in turn adapted from a series of Polish fantasy books). The Witcher will feature Cavill as monster-slayer Geralt of Rivia, and arrive on the streaming service at an unspecified late 2019 date.

The new trailer for the HBO and BBC adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials book series gives fans an exciting glimpse at the show, which will debut on an unspecified date this fall. Although there's no final release date yet, The BBC has confirmed the first season will have eight episodes, as will the show's already-announced second season. In this first teaser, we see the all-star cast in action, from Dafne Keen (Logan) as Lyra, to Lin-Manuel Miranda (Broadway's Hamilton) as Lee Scoresby.

Amazon's intriguing steampunk-esque fantasy noir Carnival Row arrives August 30th, 2019.Two trailers debuted at con for the series, a Victorian fantasy about refugees from a magical realm who seek shelter in the mortal world. The show stars Cara Delevigne and Orlando Bloom, and centers around a string of murders which occur on the titular Carnival Row. It's rare in 2019 to get a brand-new fantasy show which isn't adapted from a previously-finished property, and the series originally had Guillermo del Toro on board as an executive producer. Del Toro stepped away from the project to focus on features, but the show still looks like a surprisingly original addition to the fantasy TV streaming options.

HBO unveiled a teaser for their Watchmen series adaptation on July 20th. Rather than a direct retreading of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' graphic novel, series creator Damon Lindelof has said the new series will "remix" the original story for a new generation. Still, as Vanity Fair points out, this first trailer features plenty of nods to the original comic series. The first season will debut October 2019, and will feature eight one-hour episodes.