Ballroom 20 erupted into cheers this afternoon at San Diego Comic Con as acclaimed author and scholar, Deborah Harkness, took her place on the stage. Alongside of Harkness was producer Lachlan Mackinnon and key cast members for Bad Wolf’s upcoming series “Discovery of Witches.”

Based on the wildly popular novels, this series stars Teresa Palmer as Diana a witch who is struggling with her past and present identity while trying to gain control of her powers. Yet, it is not just these witch’s powers that she is battling with; there are vampires and demons too. And by the way, they all look like normal people. Not a sparkly blood sucker amongst them.

Alex Kingston (Sarah) and Valarie Pettiford (Emily) have raised Diana for the past 18 years after her parents died. Yes, a lesbian couple without the shock and awe of having a same sex couple in a series. When asked about this topic, Kingston, Harkness and Pettiford seemed to laugh it off because no one had thought twice about any type of taboo or grandstand moment. It just is.

Owen Teale (Peter) was also in attendance with plenty to say about his character. Mostly defending the title of “villain” before bowing his head and conceding a bit. It was all in good fun and Peter did seem to loom largely on the screen.

Along with a magical chemistry between the cast and even the author, the audience was treated to several clips from the series which seemed to please many of the fans in attendance. Cheering and jeering as certain characters made their appearance. The cast on stage were loving every minute of it as they bantered and told stories from filming. Kingston and Pettiford stole the show as they reveled in their apparent love for their set! I don’t know what the Bishop House supposed to look like but I am eager to see what those two women were so excited about. They gave a round of applause to the set designers which is something not very many people do during panels like this at Comic Con.

As someone who has not read these books, I am intrigued to see where this series takes us. Harkness closed out the panel with a terrific quote that spurred immediate rousing applause and cheers, “Being different can save the world.”

Well said Ms. Harkness. You know your audience well.

Catch “Discovery of Witches” in the U.K. starting in September on Sky One. Here in the states there has yet to be a release date but it will be on Sundance and Shudder.