NerdHQ panels at SDCC 2015 will be filled with stars

Apart from the official San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC 2015) panels, actor Zachary Levi and The Nerd Machine have once again organized some interesting panels at NerdHQ to raise money for Operation Smile with guests like Bryan Cranston, Nathan Fillion, M. Night Shyamalan and Joss Whedon, amongst many others.


If you didn’t know, The Nerd Machine, founded by Zachary Levi (Chuck, Tangled, Thor: The Dark World, Heroes Reborn), sets up this four-day event every year during SDCC to be able to gather together as many nerds and prime members of the film, television, tech and gaming industry (some of whom happen to be Levi’s friends) as they possibly can to share a fun, relaxed Q&A with fans — and occasional auctions — apart from many other activities. All the proceeds from the panels tickets, exclusive photoshoots and signings, as well as attendees donations go to Operation Smile, a nonprofit organization which provides worldwide medical service to children who are born with cleft lip and cleft palate. Zachary Levi himself and his team have experienced in person what Operation Smile does in countries like Honduras, and he’s been an ambassador for the organization for years, along with other celebrities like Molly Sims, Jackie Chan and Kate Walsh.

So if you’re near San Diego, check out Nerd HQ for lots of fun activities:

“The event will feature PC, console, and mobile gaming activations that are only available at HQ. […] HQ will feature two of the best fan parties of the weekend on Thursday and Saturday night. […] We will continue to bring you the “Smiles for Smiles” and “Signings for Smiles” opportunities that raise money for Operation Smile.”

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This year’s NerdHQ will be held at the New Children’s Museum in downtown San Diego and it is free to attend, except for the “Conversations for a Cause” panels, with tickets selling for $22 and capacity for 200 people each. At the time of posting this article, most of the panels are already sold out, but there are still some seats available for “Conversations” like “Virtual Reality, Project Morpheus, and the Future of Gaming”, which promises to be fascinating, or “Bad Ass Women”, next Friday. Last year’s “Bad Ass Women” panel featured Yvonne Strahovski, Retta, Jennifer Morrison, Sophie Turner, Missy Peregrym and Ming-Na Wen, so I look forward to this year’s guests, still not revealed.

Scheduled panels from next Thursday to Sunday include film and television actors, directors, producers, like William Shatner, Elijah Wood, Steven Moffat, Clark Gregg, Hayley Atwell, Seth Green, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, M. Night Shyamalan, Bryan Cranston, and recurring guests Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk and Joss Whedon.

For a complete “Conversations for a Cause” schedule visit The Nerd Machine.

All panels will be streamed live online via IGN, but be sure to follow Monkeys Fighting Robots to find out everything that you missed from NerdHQ and also anything else interesting from SDCC 2015!

Elisabeth S. Contreras
Elisabeth S. Contreras
Film enthusiast and sharer of words. Don't underestimate a woman with an opinion.