David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are no longer attending San Diego Comic Con

HBO released an updated lineup for its Game of Thrones panel at San Diego Comic Con, and it turns out that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will not be in attendance this year after all.

With Game of Thrones attending San Diego Comic Con for the last time, most fans expected that showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss would make an appearance. After all, they were scheduled to participate in the show’s panel this year, and surely they’d want to discuss their last and most divisive season.

But HBO released updated panel details yesterday, excluding five previously announced participants who are no longer attending the convention. Benioff and Weiss were among the panelists dropping out, along with director Miguel Sapochnik, Jorah Mormont actor Iain Glen, and Missandei actress Nathalie Emmanuel.

This news came as a disappointment to fans, many of whom wished to hear the showrunners thoughts on the series’ end — and some of whom even planned to confront the pair about the eighth season’s shortcomings. Some have wondered whether the possibility of receiving more backlash from fans resulted in Benioff and Weiss pulling out of the panel, though this sort of thing does happen all the time even without potential conflict.

On the bright side, even if fans can’t hear the showrunners’ thoughts on the series ending, there are still plenty of big names heading to SDCC. The panelists still scheduled to speak include Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister),  Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark), Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm), Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), and Conleth Hill (Varys).

It’s a tad upsetting that some of the other leads including — Kit Harrington, Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey, and Sophie Turner — won’t be around this year either, but we imagine many of the former cast members are busy working on other projects or taking much-needed breaks from Hollywood. The whopping 32 Emmy nominations Game of Thrones scored for the last season speak for themselves anyway, even if the show’s Comic Con appearance isn’t quite as expected.

Still, the Game of Thrones panel is likely to be one of the more interesting Comic Con events this year, if only because it’s a farewell of sorts. It’s taking place on Friday at 5 p.m. in Hall H.

Are you looking forward to the Game of Thrones panel at this year’s San Diego Comic Con? Tell us what you’re most excited about in the comments.