'Veronica Mars' SDCC Panel: Revival Launches a Week Early, Tackling Adult Themes With Series' Iconic Charm

Veronica Mars is all grown-up, and so is the subject matter the iconic show is tackling in the Hulu revival, which dropped a week early after the pilot screening at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday.

The panel for the upcoming Hulu revival, originally scheduled to premiere July 26 on the streaming network, started off with a bang, showing attendees the action-packed first episode before announcing the show was available right now to binge in total.

As the crazy spring break crew returns to Neptune for another year of debauchery in the reboot's first episode, Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) and dad Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni) are trying to keep the lights on with their PI business, struggling to pay the bills for Keith's growing health concerns by bringing their signature style of investigation to a deadly motel bombing at the Sea Sprite.

The scrappy heroine is also just as hot and heavy as before with Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), who returns from his trip abroad more serious than ever about his feelings for Veronica — proposing marriage, only to receive a shocked rejection.

In addition to the return of fan favorite characters like Cliff McCormack (Daran Norris), Patton Oswalt makes his debut as Penn Epner, a disgruntled pizza delivery guy and true crime enthusiast thrown into the mix of things by a twist of fate.

Earning cheers from the audience on several occasions, it's clear the cult favorite show has struck the right tone with fans from the start, embracing the characters' growth while staying true to form.

In the following panel, Bell addressed Veronica's rejection of the proposal, saying the reason stems from the heroine's personal issues.

"I think one of the things we didn't explore as much in the first three seasons is Veronica's commitment issues. ... She always sees people break up and hurt each other, and it's hard for her to believe that something could be that perfect. And from her perspective, it's perfect right now, so she doesn't want to ruin it," Bell said.

Dohring added of the rejection, "[Logan has] gotta let her cool, and then maybe, hopefully go from there."

Returning to shoot Veronica Mars with two young kids at home, Bell admitted was hard, as the show is "a beast to shoot" with long, intense hours.

"Am I gonna miss six months of bedtimes to put this girl back into the world?" she recalled asking herself. Ultimately, she decided it was worth it to bring this "superhero without a cape" back into the world, adding, "I'm grateful to our writing team to write a woman like this."

The actress also confessed that as long as fans are wanting more of Veronica, she's happy to step back into her boots.

"I'll play Veronica until everyone in Neptune is dead," she joked.

Veronica Mars is streaming now on Hulu.

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Photo credit: Veronica Mars (2014)