‘Rick and Morty,’ ‘Phineas and Ferb,’ ‘Ghosts’ Casts and More Join Variety’s Comic-Con Studio

Some of the biggest stars from San Diego Comic Con stopped by the Comic Con Variety Studio presented by Google TV.

“Rick and Morty”

Ahead of the Season 8 finale of “Rick and Morty” on Sunday, the cast shared their favorite serious moments from the series. 

Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden said the “fear hole” from the Season 7 finale, with Sarah Chalke chiming in about the Season 8 finale as her standout. As the new voices of “Rick and Morty,” Cardoni and Belden opened up about revisiting these characters for a second time in the current season.

“We got to breathe a little bit in between episodes because Season 7 had to be done in about two months,” Cardoni said. “In Season 8, we took most of the year to explore these characters a little more and bring more of ourselves to the role. We’ve just been given these great stories to play with.”

Chalke and Spencer Grammer touched on playing a mother-daughter dynamic in the show, which Grammer said she pulled inspiration from her life experiences. “It was exciting for these two characters,” Grammar said. “I’ve been playing the role for a long time, so to be able to meet my adult version of myself and talk to my mother in the show was fun.”

Chalke added, ”I loved how Beth was very nervous and intimidated by adult Summer. That was my favorite part. It was like, ‘Oh my God, I want to turn her off. I’d like her to be my friend.”

When asked about adding different variations of Jerry in the show, Chris Parnell said he would want to see a “pirate, Jacques Cousteau or maritime” version. Following the announcement of “Rick and Morty” expanding with Keith David’s President Curtis spinoff, the actor teased that fans can expect him to “get into his crazy schemes.”

“It’s exciting to see him figure it out and come up with solutions that take him further down the rabbit hole and then come out of it,” David said. “He has wonderful help. The White House staff is quite exciting.”

Starring alongside him is “Community” alum, Jim Rash. David hinted at him potentially being in the long-awaited “Community” movie adaptation, having said, “We have to see it. The promise of that movie has been so long. I hope it works out. I hope it gets done.”

Chalke discussed rejoining the “Scrubs” cast and how she’s requesting there be a “flash mob” in the reboot. The cast discussed Season 8 celebrity cameos, which featured James Gunn and Zack Snyder, in the same episode, as well as who their dream guest stars would be. Their choices were Ian McKellan, Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett.

“Phineas and Ferb”

“Phineas and Ferb” creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff Marsh revealed that “Summer Belongs to You” was created spontaneously during an impromptu singalong in the writer’s room.

“We hadn’t thought of a title for the episode,” Povenmire explained. “I had, ‘Yes, it’s true / Summer belongs to you.’ Then Martin [Olson] and Swampy [Jeff] started singing ‘Summer belongs to you / Summer belongs.’ Then we all sang the second half of that chorus, ‘Summer belongs to everyone / So have some fun / There’s nothing bad to do.’ We all sang it at the same time. The words weren’t written yet and that’s never happened before. We jumped around the writers room so excited.”

Speaking about reconnecting with fans at Comic Con, Alyson Stoner mentioned how impressed she was by the character cosplay. The cast pointed out their favorite costumes being Love Händel and Bobbi Fabulous. Coming from a theater background, Povenmire and Marsh agreed that experiencing fan reaction is their favorite part about attending the convention.

“Comic-Con gives you that feeling of what we’re doing is not just going out into the ether somewhere,” Povenmire said. “People are enjoying it.” 

Marsh added, “Somebody will tell you a story about why the show connected with them, their family and a moment. It’s wonderful.”

Women of Wrestling

“WOW” twins Laurie and Lindsey Carlson, who are entering their fourth season, reflected on their journey as wrestlers and their growth within the organization.

“When David found us, it was a tryout in Miami about four or three years ago,” Lindsey began. “We’ve been wrestling for seven years. We started on the independent scene. We were trained by Afa Anoa’i, the Wild Samoan. To be a part of ‘WOW,’ we’ve been able to grow as wrestlers inside the ring every season. My sister and I have been able to improve with our goal to be the top tag team out there.”

Laurie added, “We’ve come so far since Season 1 to Season 4. Seeing the growth has been awesome to be a part of. We’re thankful.”

For Santana Garrett, she said she is excited to be at the forefront of amplifying women’s sports, especially in wrestling.

“If you see it, you can believe it,” she said. “With ‘WOW,’ it’s so diverse. There are so many different women, shapes, sizes, athletic abilities and backgrounds. To be able to have that relatability factor and someone at home is like, ‘Oh my gosh, they can do it. I can do it too.’ That’s the most rewarding part of this job.”

The new season of “WOW” will showcase the wrestling event at its Las Vegas residency in the fall, which Jeanie Buss described as another opportunity for fans to connect with the wrestlers in person.

“I’ve always wanted to see ‘WOW’ continue to grow and become a touring property to connect with the fans,” she said. “Now being in Las Vegas, our fans can come to see their superheroes in person and enjoy a show.”

“Paradise”

Sterling K. Brown celebrated the success of “Paradise” Season 1 while looking forward to exciting developments for his character and the story overall in Season 2.

In regards to the first season’s four Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Brown and Outstanding Drama Series for the show as a whole, Brown commended his co-stars and their achievements as an ensemble. “I’ve gotten a chance to celebrate personal success and that’s always worth celebrating, but team success, that’s the real goal,” he said.

Brown’s co-stars James Marsden and Julianne Nicholson also received nominations for their roles in “Paradise.” Brown praised their performances and reflected, “I’m really happy they all got recognized and that we get a chance to go to the party together. It makes all the difference in the world.”

Looking ahead to Season 2, Brown was coy with details. Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger, with Brown’s character flying to Atlanta to find his wife, who was previously assumed dead. “Whether he makes it there or not still remains to be seen,” Brown said, “Whether she is alive or not still remains to be seen.” He also hinted that, in Season 2, “there’s something that happens where the outside world and the inside world of ‘Paradise’ sort of come in contact with one another.”

Brown had no hesitation, however, to share his excitement about the addition of Shailene Woodley in Season 2 of the show. He stated, “I can tell you that Shaliene Woodley is outstanding. People are gonna remember her character.”

“Ghosts”

Utkarsh Ambudkar, Danielle Pinnock, Asher Grodman and Devan Chandler Long may be at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, but they’re ready to get to work. Shooting for the new season of their hit CBS sitcom “Ghosts” starts on Monday. “I’ve been learning lines in between press junkets,” Pinnock says, but she’s  a little distracted. “I know more about ‘Love Island’ than I do my lines at this point, so I need to get cracking.” The series premieres its fifth season this October and has already been renewed for a sixth. “We’re just trying to improve and refine what we’ve got. We know we’ve got a good thing, but we don’t want to take it for granted,” Long says of its continued popularity. “We’re grateful, but we gotta keep pushing.” 

“Love on the Spectrum”

Dani Bowman showed up to Comic-Con donning a bright red top and a headband to emulate Po from “Teletubbies.” “The reason why I decided to end up as Po from ‘Teletubbies’ is because I noticed that my fellow cast members, Abby [Lutes] and David [Isaacman], were huge fans of ‘Teletubbies’ and they’ve got their ‘Teletubbies’ merch,” she said. “I’ve also said on Instagram that I would love ‘Teletubbies’ merch because ‘Teletubbies’ is part of my childhood.”

The bubbly personality from Netflix’s “Love on the Spectrum” has been attending Comic-Con since 2011 and arrived this year eager to talk about her love of animation and share dating advice with her fans.

“The most important advice I give to them is to not just have fun and be your true self, but also remember that finding love is not about finding the right person; it’s about being the right person,” she said. Reflecting on her own relationship, she added, “the best relationships usually come from the most important things: being able to understand each other.”

Beyond offering relationship advice, Bowman also comes to Comic-Con to support her creative community showcasing work in the San Diego International Children’s Film Festival. Two of Bowman’s animation students are screening their films at the festival and she admires all of the animation panels taking place throughout the convention. “Animation has been my life ever since I was a little kid,” she reflected, “I grew up watching cartoons and I really love all the variety of different styles of animation. Whether it’s some cartoons from the West, American, Canadian, anime, or from France, everybody’s styles are completely different, and I love to see the variety of different styles of animation being made from different parts of the world.”

Regarding her future on “Love on the Spectrum,” Bowman said, “I cannot reveal any of the details for Season 4 yet, but I will give you some more details eventually.”

Google TV is the presenting sponsor of the Comic-Con Variety Studio.