by Alice Balagia, Guest Writer
Word on the street in 2013 was that the Orphan Black Nerd HQ panel was more entertaining and exciting for fans than the actual Comic Con panel. The Orphan Black cast didn’t let fans down in 2014 with another hilarious panel at Nerd HQ. Members of the cast present were Tatiana Maslany (the clones), Jordan Gavaris (Felix), Maria Doyle Kennedy (Mrs. S), Kristian Bruun (Donnie), Dylan Bruce (Paul), and Ari Millen (who was revealed to be the new male clone of Project Castor at the end of Season 2). Hosting the panel was Nerd HQ founder Zachary Levi.
Some of the funnier moments of the panel came from the banter between Dylan Bruce and Kristian Bruun. Dylan welcomed Kristian to the butt club, now having seen Kristian’s butt at one point during the season. This led to Kristian performing a pseudo strip tease on stage, pulling down his pants and dancing around the stage in his briefs; with Tatiana in the background laughing and saying, “what is happening??” I can’t say how lucky I found myself at that moment to be there in person witnessing such an unexpected moment! Between his tweets throughout the weekend at SDCC and his behavior at panels, I’m ready to announce Kristian Bruun as the class clown of the Orphan Black cast. At the Nerd HQ panel Kristian gave Clone Club a re-enactment of his reaction to reading the script and finding out that Donnie would be the one to kill Dr. Leekie (Mr. & Mrs. Accidental Murderers Hendrix as Donnie and Alison became known throughout Clone Club). His re-enactment was probably the funniest thing I saw all weekend.
Ari Millen revealed that originally his character was supposed to be killed off in episode six of Season 2. Only after moving past the episode and not being killed off was he told that the creators had decided to go with the Project Castor story, and he was offered the new role of being a male clone (which he obviously accepted).
It’s clear the Orphan Black cast is a tight knit group and they all get along and have a good time together. The entire hour was spent with the cast reliving moments together from the past year and discussing what inspires them about their roles and the show.
One of the benefits of going to a Nerd HQ event is that you don’t need a SDCC badge, all proceeds go to the charity group Operation Smile, and you get a more intimate and authentic experience from the panelists than you might at an official SDCC panel. If you haven’t been to a Nerd HQ event, you’re missing out and you should immediately put it on your must do list if you are in San Diego for Comic Con weekend next year.
