Watch The PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES Comic-Con Panel

Depending on your perspective, the book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is either a fun, light-hearted addition to a beloved classic, or a cynical, parasitic marketing ploy that ruins the pacing of a beloved classic. Either way, the movie Pride and Prejudice and Zombies looks like a lively romp through the story we’ve always loved, only with zombies. Director Burr Steers has assembled a bang up cast, including Lily James, Sam Riley, Jack Huston, Matt Smith, Lena Heady, and Charles Dance, and seems to have approached the project with the deadly seriousness required to pull off its one-joke premise. At Comic-Con, they showed a trailer that has not been released yet, and it looks lush and lively and you get to see Mr. Darcy (Riley) kill an aristocratic zombie at a formal gathering. Quite the comedy of manners.

The cast assembled in Hall H for, admittedly, a true dud of a panel. Screen Gems got an Entertainment Weekly writer to moderate the panel, which was a mistake. I just thought he lacked charisma, the ability to read a room, and the ability to ask an interesting question, but my Hall H comrade Tia straight up called him a dick. You decide?

Untalented moderator aside, there is a bit of interesting information to come out of the panel. Steers makes an excellent observation about the role of the Napoleonic Wars in Austen’s novels and the way the zombie plague fills that role in the movie. Sam Riley talks, and his gravelly voice is always a bit of a marvel. Plus the terrible moderator uses Matt Smith, the biggest geek star on the panel, as a bit of a crutch, asking him question after question when it became clear that he had lost the room, and it’s always fun to hear what he has to say.

For the panel, Smith, Riley, James, Huston, and Steers were joined by stars Bella Heathcote and Douglas Booth, plus author Seth Grahame-Smith.