A well-beloved Godzilla star made their surprise appearance during the Godzilla at 70: Seven Decades of the King of the Monsters panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday afternoon. O’Shea Jackson Jr., known for playing Barnes in 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and starring in other Hollywood flicks like Cocaine Bear and Straight Outta Compton, appeared on stage during the Q&A segment with Shinji Higuchi, when moderator Drew Taylor was preparing to ask one final question for the panel audience.
After his appearance, many audience members exclaimed “No way!”, with O’Shea jokingly remarking back, “It’s good to see you guys too.” After that humorous remark, O’Shea began to answer what his favorite Godzilla film was, with the answer being King of the Monsters to nobody’s surprise. Jackson Jr. also added his reasoning, stating, “I don’t know if you guys saw that, but I don’t die in that movie.”
After that fun surprise, the rest of the special guests on the panel were asked by Jackson Jr. what their favorite Godzilla films were, with some of the choices including 1984’s The Return of Godzilla, 2016’s Shin Godzilla, 1974’s Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, 1971’s Godzilla vs. Hedorah, and finally, to much surprise, Jeff Gordon’s answer was the 1998 Godzilla starring Matthew Broderick, because he saw the film with his uncle and it was the first Godzilla film he ever saw in theatres. Shin Godzilla Co-director Shinji Higuchi also added that his favorite was Godzilla vs. Megalon, giving a varied set of answers to O’Shea’s question.
Needless to say, having O’Shea be a part of an official Toho panel was a fantastic surprise, and we hope to see more of him in other projects in the future, and it was a true highlight of the panel itself. Kaiju United recorded the surprise appearance for readers and viewers at home to enjoy, so check it out below.