The New Mutants has not had the easiest or smoothest road to release. Having the first trailer released back in 2017 and an original release date back in 2018, the 20th Century Studios project has been constantly pushed back as a result of reshoots that never came to light. And now Covid pushing it back even further, you’d think the cast and crew would come to Comic-Con in low spirits.

The exact opposite appears to be true.

The New Mutants at Comic-Con at Home showed us that the cast and crew of the project have taken the delays in high strides. Not only that, but they are even more excited to finally see it released to the public. The panel saw writer/director Josh Boone, Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Blu Hunt, Alice Braga, Henry Zaga, and a special appearance by legendary comic artist Bill Sienkiewicz, who was the illustrator for The New Mutants in the comics. He is well known in the comic world for giving the characters their iconic looks and feels.

Despite being stuck in quarantine, everyone appeared to be in high spirits. Henry talked about his role as Sunspot, and how his shirtless scenes kept getting pushed back. This would not have been an issue if it weren’t for the fact he was doing the dehydration method of getting abs. He jokes how he was in pain but he never looked so good.

Josh, Maisie, and Blu further discussed the relationship that Danielle and Rahne have in the movie. They appeared to be very happy with how it turned out and even discussed how incredible it is to have a more feminine romantic relationship portrayed in a comic book film, rather than the stereotypical man saving the day and kissing the girl. “The heart of the movie is love,” said director Josh Boone.

Josh Boone talked about how big of a New Mutant’s fan he was growing up and how that influenced his decision to adapt the Nightmare Bear Saga for film. He was energetic and very excited to see his movie released. And speaking of which…

Even the opening for the panel poked fun at how ridiculous the delays have been: having the dates for each release crossed out and redone. The final date, August 28th, 2020, was done with a tongue-in-cheek “fingers crossed” joke. It’s very good to see that they can all joke about the delays, because they are getting ridiculous at this point. And it has appeared that even the Covid aspects of the delays have even affected the home release aspect of The New Mutants.

Director Josh Boone and comic illustrator Bill Sienkiewicz had mentioned that before quarantine hit, they were scheduling a Blu-Ray commentary for the film. But they were unfortunately never able to see it through due to previously stated reasons. But even so, they were still ready to talk about how much love and care they had for the film. Everyone was.

Charlie Heaton talked about the comparisons he has to this role and his role on Stranger Things. Alice Braga talked about being a mother of sorts to the New Mutants and being a huge fan of the comics. Blu Hunt even talked about not being bothered by the disturbing material found in the film as she’s “seen so many horror movies that she’s used to it at this point” and that she “needs to get a life.”Jokingly,  of course. Literally everyone there had a smile on their face and love for their project.

But the surprises didn’t end there.

The panel ended with them showing the opening scene of The New Mutants which sees Blu’s character running away from what could possibly be the main villain, knocking herself out, and waking up in an hospital bed, chained to it. We then get a brief trailer with new sni-pits of beyond screwed up imagery.

The New Mutants is shaping up to be a very interesting and unique take on the comic book genre, something Josh Boone was more than happy to talk about. It appears, if everything goes according to plan, that The New Mutants might be the first successful blend of horror and comic book action. Will the movie be any good? Will it ever be released? Will it be delayed again for the seventeenth time? Only time will tell.