'Veronica Mars': Kristen Bell Will Play Veronica Until Everyone In Neptune Is Killed Off [Comic-Con 2019]

Buckle up, Marshmallows. The new season of Veronica Mars is here, and if the first episode is any indication, it's going to be a satisfying return to the town of Neptune, CA. This morning, fans of the show congregated in San Diego Comic-Con's Ballroom 20 to catch the first episode of the show's fourth season, as well as to spend time with cast members Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars), Jason Dohring (Logan Echolls), Ryan Hansen (Dick Casablancas), Francis Capra (Eli 'Weevil' Navarro), Percy Daggs III (Wallace Fennel), and Kirby Howell-Baptiste, a newbie to the Neptune world who plays a take-no-s*** bar owner. Executive Producer Diane Ruggiero-Wright and show creator Rob Thomas were there as well, and all shared their experiences coming back to the Veronica Mars five years after the 2014 movie.

"Can I just say before we start: we're only here because you guys kept watching," Bell told an enthusiastic crowd who had just seen the first episode. /Film has an in-depth review of Season 4 already, so all I'll say here is that it gives fans all the goodness they've been missing, whether that's the loving father-daughter banter between Veronica and Keith or seeing an insanely buff Logan walking out of the ocean in teeny tiny blue swim shorts. During the screening, the audience gasped, cheered and groaned at all the appropriate places. And it's clear the case Veronica is hired to investigate — a bombing at a local hotel during Spring Break — will be the focus of the show's eight episodes. 

But Thomas has done more than set up an intriguing whodunit caper for Veronica to solve; he spends time with our favorite characters, characters who have grown older and who have been impacted by what's happened to them before. The cast and crew have grown older as well; it's been 15 years since the first season of Veronica Mars premiered, and both Bell and Thomas now have kids of their own. Both of them talked about how becoming parents have impacted them. "My daughter was born in Season 1 of the show," Thomas said. "Getting prepared to write this, I sat down and binged it with my 13-year-old daughter, which was amazing. She kept saying, 'Oh my God, Dad, these things coming out of Keith's mouth, you say them to me!' It was great, it felt like I had written the show for my 13-year-old daughter. It felt really good."Bell also talked about how her kids impacted her decision to do Season 4. "This show is a beast to shoot. It's really hard. It's really long hours, it's really intense. I was hesitant to do that, with two young kids. I had to make the decision of whether I'm going to miss six months of bedtimes to put [Veronica] back into the world...it was a hard decision, at first, but then I was like, 'No, you have to—you have to have this character, this superhero without a cape, out there as an example for your children.'"And while Bell's kids, aged 4 and 6, might have to wait a few years to watch the show, fans can now watch all eight episodes, as Hulu announced at the end of the panel that they were putting the season up today, a week earlier than expected.  "I'll play Veronica until everyone in Neptune is dead," Bell deadpanned near the end of the panel. And if Veronica Mars fans have any say about it, she will. All eight episodes of Season 4 of Veronica Mars are now available on Hulu.