The annual New York Comic Con was held Oct. 6-9. Every year, panels, autograph opportunities and so much more happen across one big weekend.

There’s something in store for everyone at Comic Con. From dressing up as your favorite character to attending panels from some of the most popular shows, comics and books from pop culture, everyone will find their niche at the NYC-based convention. 

As a self-proclaimed nerd, I was thrilled to see so many different panels hosted for different fandoms. My top panels had to be “Spotlight on Leigh Bardugo” and “A Conversation with the Darkling, The Crows, and Leigh Bardugo.” Fellow “Six of Crows” and “Shadow and Bone” fans were delighted to see the author of the popular series and some of the breakout actors from the Netflix adaptation get together to talk about the YA Fantasy phenomenon. 

“Spotlight on Leigh Bardugo” was a Friday panel moderated by Tochi Onyebuchi, another author. Bardugo discussed her most recent book release and the Netflix series, as well as answering questions about her writing process. 

“The process is the same,” Bardugo said on how she keeps these stories fresh after a decade. “The trick for me is learning what my process was and that I needed that structure to finish a book. That process has stayed intact, but I think I trust it more. I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a kid.”

She then went on to discuss how the “Shadow and Bone” trilogy and the “Six of Crows” and “King of Scars” series don’t span a great amount of time, with “Six of Crows” only taking place two years after the original trilogy. Bardugo also commented on the writing market now, and how it’s been changing over the years. 

The Saturday panel consisted of Bardugo, Ben Barnes (The Darkling), Freddy Carter (Kaz Brekker), Amita Suman (Inej Ghafa) and Kit Young (Jesper Fahey) discussing the Netflix adaptation and how they bonded as a cast. 

“Basically, I was at a friend’s house and I was reading a book. When I woke up, the house was dark. When I was going back to sleep, I couldn’t stop thinking about if darkness was a place,” Bardugo said of creating the concept for “Shadow and Bone.”

When discussing if they’d read the books before landing their roles, Suman said she picked the books up straight away and couldn’t put them down until she finished them all. She said she was too busy reading the books instead of preparing her audition.

Carter found the site Grisha wiki and bought the books, noting his excitement over the “Kaz brekker didn’t need a reason,” line. Young discussed the expectations of playing Jesper and creating something that the cast thought was cool. 

“Fantasy fans have a one up on other fans because we see possibility,” Bardugo said.

While the cast couldn’t go too far into details surrounding season 2, everyone expressed excitement about the show.