What We Learned from Hulu’s “Helstrom” Metaverse Panel

Metaverse, the virtual presentation of New York Comic Con, continues today featuring a wide array of panels looking at everything from comics and novels to TV and movies and everything in between. One of those panels

  • The Helstrom Metaverse panel features:
    • Showrunner Paul Zbyszewski
    • Tom Austen
    • Sydney Lemmon
    • Elizabeth Marvel
    • Ariana Guerra
    • June Carryl
    • Alain Uy
  • The panel opened with an exclusive sneak peek of the first 10 minutes of the new Hulu original series.
  • Zbyszewski talked about making a show based on a Marvel Comic while still making it feel different from the typical superhero show.
  • “I’ve always been a fan of the comics and I think what makes the comics work on the Marvel side are these character stories, they’re emotional. And that was my way in,” Zbyszewski said. “It was finding the family dynamic of the Helstroms. I mean, how much worse can it get than having a dad who’s the devil, right? So, I took that bad dad story, took elements from the comics and just tried to ground it in the real world, in real emotion.”
  • Marvel, who portrays the possessed matriarch of the title characters, talked about what it was like to play this unique role.
  • “I wouldn’t say exhausting, I would say invigorating really,” Marvel said. “I mean it’s actor candy, what i got to do, so it was a blast. If anything, it energized me, but I’m a little demented.”
  • After Marvel answered her question, Lemmon, who plays her on-screen daughter, drew a laugh from the panel by holding up a coffee mug that read “I Love You Mom.”
  • Austen, who plays Daimon Helstrom, talked a bit about the practical effects used on the show.
  • “When we’re standing in front of like eight foot walls of flames, those are flames we were standing in front of,” Austen said. “Like, the set burnt down once. I’m probably not allowed to say that, but it did.”
  • All 10 episodes of Helstrom will premiere on Friday, October 16 on Hulu. You can check out Mack’s review of the new series here.
  • You can watch the full Hulu’s Helstrom Metaverse panel below: