Recap: Bob’s Burgers Comic Con @ Home 2021 Panel

Bob’s Burgers second year of doing a virtual panel at Comic Con may not have been quite the same as an in-person panel complete with throngs of fans, but it was still pretty fun. Everyone in the main cast was present for the chat, as well as creator Loren Bouchard and executive producer Nora Smith. Loren kicked things off by making a joke about how this year’s panel would be just like Comic Con in 2006, since only a few fans would be present (due to the virtual Q&A).

After the preliminaries were out of the way, Loren and company moved on to teasing the upcoming season. Despite being made entirely from home during the pandemic, the new season is one of the most ambitious they’ve ever done, and Loren said that the team is continuing to work with the mantra of making small stories feel big. Titles of episodes coming next season include The Crystal Mess, The Pumpkinging, Seventween Again, Gene’s Christmas Break, and Spider House Rules. There are also a ton of new and returning guest stars like Kevin Avery, Molly Shannon, Todd Barry.

We were able to see some clips from season twelve as well. The first one featured Bob and Linda receiving a mysterious delivery of flowers at the restaurant, while the next saw Bob and Teddy going for a ride in Teddy’s truck with the atmosphere becoming more and more uncomfortable. Along with the clips, Loren teased that next season’s finale is going to take place almost entirely within the world of Tina’s erotic friend fiction. It’s a big two-parter and it breaks a few rules of traditional TV animation, including having a long stretch where no talking takes place. (As long as Loren wins the argument against Nora, that is.)

Additionally, two more things were teased: the movie and a new musical album. The movie still doesn’t have a release date, but a trailer should be coming soon, and Loren said that in terms of genre, the film is a musical comedy mystery coming of age adventure movie. The album comprises songs from season 7, 8, and 9 and will be released on August 20.

The panel finished up with fan questions from a few lucky virtual audience members. One of my favorite questions was about which kid would end up running the restaurant. Everyone agreed that Tina would be the one who stayed and helped the whole time, but that Louise would be the one who ended up with the job because she’s the smartest and would probably turn it into a chain or something. Gene, while the ideas man, wouldn’t be able to handle the job from a logistics standpoint.

Even though the panel had to end, there’s still plenty of Bob’s Burgers coming up: the album, the movie, and of course the next season which will premiere this fall! Fans can sit tight in the knowledge that their order for more Belcher content will be served up soon.