- An announcement addressing a fire alarm sparked confusion among attendees at 2025 San Diego Comic-Con.
- However, no fire alarm could actually be heard — just the announcement instructing guests to remain calm.
- Security did briefly hold entry into Hall H until the issue was resolved.
Comic-Con is usually aflame with entertainment news, but on Friday, a fire alarm announcement sent the annual San Diego event into confusion.
During a panel for Dexter: Resurrection, security made an announcement asking patrons to “remain calm” and await further instruction. The announcement was apparently in response to a fire alarm that went off, though attendees inside the panel and video indicated that no alarm could be heard.
“I’m not calm,” quipped moderator Jamie Chung, who appeared in Dexter: New Blood, to which star Michael C. Hall replied, “Thank God Dexter’s with us.”
The crowd laughed in response and the panel carried on in spite of the interruption. A clip was being shown when another announcement noted that the alarm was “cleared by security” and the panel, which never actually paused, could resume. The clip did, however, lower the volume for the all-clear announcement.
An Entertainment Weekly reporter waiting outside the Convention Center to enter an upcoming panel inside Hall H was held, along with the crowd, while the issue was resolved. A security guard told them, “It’s mayhem in there,” noting that they would need to wait a moment to enter the building.
However, the reporter noted that at no point did there ever seem to be cause for serious alarm or did there appear to be any significant concern on the part of the security staff.
One audience member told our reporter that they thought perhaps the fog machine used for effect during the Predator: Badlands panel was the culprit for the alarm. However, security later told the reporter that there was no smoke or fog machine causing an issue and that they believed the alarm was pulled as a prank.
Security was instructed to insure guests remained calm as they moved to and from their seats.
Besides confusion among the crowd and a brief delay turning over Hall H from one panel to the next, the alarm did not seem to cause any major disruption to Friday’s festivities.
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Check out more of EW’s coverage from San Diego Comic-Con 2025.
Additional reporting by Sydney Bucksbaum and Wesley Stenzel.
