San Diego Comic-Con is Hollywood’s destination for star-studded panels, buzzy slate presentations, and autograph signings — but the annual pop culture convention will have less star power this year. On Thursday, the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) officially declared an actors’ strike to start at midnight on Friday, July 14th, shutting down film and scripted TV productions worldwide. Under the union’s strike rules, SAG-AFTRA members — all 160,000 of them — are not permitted to promote their movies or shows at premieres, on red carpets, or at Comic-Con 2023.
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“In general terms, any kind of promotion of any project that was made under the Television/Theatrical agreements — either current or past — will not be allowed,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator of SAG-AFTRA, said during a SAG strike press conference Thursday. According to Crabtree-Ireland, that includes “Comic-Con, festival panels, on social media, at a premiere,” or promotion “in any form.”
The strike rules also don’t allow “any form of promotion” for television or streaming series produced under the contracts that expired Thursday. Actors who were nominated at the 2023 Emmys on Wednesday will not be able to campaign or otherwise promote those projects for the duration of the strike, which will “bring any actor participation in any campaign to a close” until SAG-AFTRA reaches an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTA), Crabtree-Ireland said.
Crabtree-Ireland noted that union members continue to be allowed to participate in autograph signings or events that are “not related to specific companies or projects” produced under the AMPTP TV/Theatrical Contracts. While actors can attend Comic-Con as long as they do so without publicity — meaning they don’t take part in panels or interviews promoting films or TV shows — it was reported before Thursday’s strike vote that SAG-AFTRA leadership prefers its members skip the confab altogether.
In the first sign of solidarity, the cast of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer — including Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, and Robert Downey Jr. — walked out of the film’s London premiere that was happening concurrent with strike talks.
Disney’s Marvel Studios is skipping Comic-Con and will not preview its upcoming movie and TV slate at Hall H, but Marvel Comics will host panels and other special events, as will Warner Bros. Discovery’s DC Comics. Other studios to back out of this year’s convention include streamer Netflix and Universal Pictures.
