San Diego Comic-Con 2025 is back. It’s a time when tens of thousands of fans from all over the world gather in "America’s Finest City" for a four-day celebration of pop culture, movies, television and, of course, comics. The annual convention has been going strong for over 50 years and shows no sign of stopping.
Even if you’re not attending the big event in person, you can still follow along and join in the fun from outside the event or at home.
Here’s everything you need to know about San Diego Comic-Con 2025.
What is San Diego Comic-Con?
You’ve probably heard about San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC or Comic-Con for short), but you might wonder what the heck all of the buzz is about.
Comic-Con started in March 1970 when a group of comic book enthusiasts gathered in the basement of a San Diego hotel and celebrated the genre. Over the years, artists and writers from the industry started showing up and the event started picking up steam.
Decades later, Hollywood started to take notice of the gathering and used it to promote their new shows and films; the watershed moment came in 2008, when new groups of fans poured into the San Diego Convention Center to see the cast of the first Twilight movie. At that point, tickets became scarce as interest in attending the event skyrocketed and became one of the hottest and most exclusive events of the year.
These days, many studios host their own events to showcase their projects. Despite the competition from studios and even with so many other pop culture conventions like New York Comic Con, San Diego Comic-Con is still considered to be the gold standard.
When is San Diego Comic-Con 2025?
San Diego Comic-Con 2025 takes place July 24-27, with a special Preview Night on Wednesday, July 23. You must have a valid badge (SDCC-speak for ticket) to get into the convention.
The Exhibit Hall is open from 9:30 am PT to 7 pm PT Thursday through Saturday, and 9:30 am to 5 pm PT on Sunday. Panels and activities will take place throughout the evening, including the annual Will Eisner Awards on Friday night and the Masquerade costume contest on Saturday.
Where is Comic-Con 2025?
San Diego Comic-Con takes place at the San Diego Convention Center. The event has grown so big over the years that studios have taken their shows beyond the friendly confines of the Convention Center and into the surrounding Gaslamp Quarter.
Known as "offsite" locations, studios entice convention goers to their interactive exhibits, activations and displays with the added benefit that most of these activities don’t require a SDCC badge. Anyone can join in the fun and there are often exclusive free giveaways or photo opportunities at offsite locations to build excitement.
San Diego Comic-Con 2025 Schedule
You can find the complete panel schedule here.
We've outlined some of the most highly anticipated panels below. (All times Pacific Time)
THURSDAY
11 am: Percy Jackson and the Olympians
4:15 pm: Blumhouse's Five Nights at Freddy's 2
4:15 pm: The Strangers: Chapter 2
5:30 pm: The Toxic Avenger: Unrated and Radioactive
FRIDAY
10 am: STARZ: Outlander and Outlander: Blood of My Blood
12:15 pm: The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3
1:25 pm: FX's Alien: Earth World Premiere and Q&A
2:30 pm: The Next Wave of Horror: Neon's Together, Shelby Oaks and Keeper
4:15 pm: Predator: Badlands
5 pm: Dexter: Resurrection
5:30 pm: TRON: Ares
SATURDAY
10 am: Coyote vs Acme
12:30 pm: Star Trek Universe
3:30 pm: Peacemaker Sneak Peek and Panel
3:30 pm: Ghosts
4:30 pm: Anne Rice Immortal Universe: Interview with the Vampire and Talamasca
SUNDAY
11 am: Sneak Peek: Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Is San Diego Comic-Con 2025 free?
You need a badge to get into events taking place inside the Convention Center. SDCC 2025 is sold out and no tickets will be available on site. Badges go on sale several months prior to the event and they sell out quickly.
As mentioned above, many of the offsite locations don’t require a SDCC badge so there are plenty of things to do around the San Diego Convention Center even if you can’t get inside.
Can I watch San Diego Comic-Com 2025 from home?
If you’re not able to attend San Diego Comic-Con in person, don’t worry — you don't have to miss out on all of the fun. Most studios post trailers, announcements and videos from panels on their social media channels.
Generally, panels aren’t live streamed unless a studio so chooses; the exception to this is when the entire event went virtual in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.
There are cases where special footage will be released at SDCC but won't be available to the public for several days, weeks or even months after the event. Rest assured that this footage always makes its way to the fans, it's just held back for a short period to give fans at the event something exclusive to enjoy. (This isn't unique to SDCC; studios do the same thing at trade shows and other conventions to generate buzz)
It's helpful to follow the #SDCC hashtag on social media to see what people are posting about the event.
San Diego Comic-Con 2025 offsite locations
SDCC is so big, it has sprawled out beyond the friendly confines of the San Diego Convention Center to take over a fair portion of Downtown, San Diego.
Outdoor activations, known as "offsites," are custom built activities and experiences for fans to enjoy, whether or not they have SDCC badges.
Some of the big offsites we're excited about this year include:
- The Wreckage: Code Red, a celebration of all things Alien: Earth. Taking place on the Hilton Bayfront lawn, FX has this to say about the activation: "Guests are invited to explore the mysterious debris of the USCSS Maginot to unearth new details from the highly anticipated upcoming series from creator Noah Hawley, inspired by the acclaimed feature film franchise. The experience will feature various interactive thrills and never-before-seen alien specimens. Guests can visit 'The Wreckage' during the day to explore new areas of the USCSS Maginot or brave a terrifying mission at 'The Wreckage: Code Red' once the sun goes down."
- The Lodge, dedicated to all things CBS, Paramount Plus, CBS Sports and Pluto TV. Set at the Happy Days bar and restaurant, like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Dexter: Resurrection, Landman, NCIS: Tony & Ziva and Mission: Impossible. Fans can book a spot for the event using this link, and a standby line will also be available.
- Clown in a Cornfield: The Experience, a Shudder activation celebrating the harrowing hit horror movie. From AMC: "Inspired by IFC Entertainment Group’s smash hit film Clown in a Cornfield, which makes its streaming debut on Shudder and AMC Plus on August 8, Comic-Con attendees get a chance to test their mettle and evade Frendo on his cornfield home turf. The fan experience will immerse attendees within settings from the film, beginning in the town square during the Founders Day parade, which gives way to a corn maze. Once through the maze, a refuge and celebration for 'survivors' awaits with the Shudder Survivors Party, featuring photo ops, games and giveaways."
San Diego Comic-Con 2025 news
We'll be keeping track of all the big news and announcements from San Diego Comic-Con 2025 below so keep checking back for updates.
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