Comic-Con: The Following Takes the Stage at SDCC

On Friday, The Following made an appearance at San Diego Comic-Con to talk about Season 2. And after Season 1's exciting finale, fans were eager to hear about what's in store for Kevin Bacon's Ryan Hardy.

In attendance at the panel were stars Bacon, Shawn Ashmore and Valorie Curry, as well as executive producers Kevin Williamson and Marcos Siega.

To start, the audience was shown a never-before-seen clip that picked up right after the finale and revealing Claire's fate. (We'll keep that spoiler-free for now, so as not to ruin the moment.)

Following the clip, Bacon was interrupted by a phone call, which fans heard to be none other than James Purefoy on the other line. "Joe?" Bacon queried into the phone. "I thought you were dead." Moments later, Purefoy took to the stage to a round of applause from the crowd. From there, Williamson revealed that Joe Caroll's story isn't quite over yet. "I guess he might be alive," Williamson explained. "I don't want to give too much more away... [but] he will figure into the second season in some way."

As we soon learned, the Season 2 premiere will finish out the aforementioned clip and then jump forward to a year later, when the rest of the season takes place. However, Williamson said the main storyline will stray from the FBI a little more and hone in on the relationships of the characters -- it'll be kind of like a "a character driven thriller," he said.

Likewise, Bacon said Ryan will be more "at peace" in Season 2, and we'll get to learn a bit more about his family and background. As for Currie's character Emma? She'll have to "learn to live without that protection and that infrastructure of the cult." A year later, it sounds like she's made "some new friends," to help her out.

To wrap things up, Williamson said, "We learned a lot [from Season 1]. It's going to have the fun of last season -- but it also gives us an opportunity to tell a new story."

And, of course, expect to see plenty more sarcasm from Ryan in Season 2. "We have talked about that," Bacon said. "We'll try our best to get some sarcasm in there."

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love by following @Max_Nicholson on Twitter, or MaxNicholson on IGN.

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com