The Sleepy Hollow panel on Sunday in the Marriott Atrium Ballroom started out with the disappointing news that Nicole Beharie wouldn’t be able to attend. She had to leave the convention early. But the mood quickly shifted when it was announced that John Noble and makeup artist Corey Castellano would be joining the panel instead. Moderator DJ Ichabod brought them out on stage and then explained that Tom Mison had been held up and would be there as soon as he could.

Noble called his presence on stage a “rescue mission” while we all awaited Mison’s appearance. He and Castellano took questions from the audience. One question for Noble was whether he knew at the start who his character would turn out to be. With more than a little glee, Noble answered that he thought it was going to be such fun, especially in the first season, getting to play this nice old man who “all the time was plotting to kill Mummy and Daddy.” When later asked whether he prefers playing good guys or villains, Noble said that he doesn’t really think of characters that way and that no matter who he is playing, he has to get inside the character and find that character’s truth. He expanded on the answer quite a bit and at the end concluded, “Yeah, villains are better.”

Castellano is responsible for creating a lot of the monsters on the show, and he was asked whether he ever put any kind of Easter eggs into his costumes. While he did say that we would never find any R2-D2s anywhere, he did add a detail to the Sandman costume—a cuneiform spiral that says “eye for an eye.” He called this a “sign of a history degree gone wrong.”

As the panel continued, it appeared that Mison might not make it after all, but finally DJ Ichabod was able to bring him on stage. When Mison entered, Noble exited, thanking all of us for coming. As Mison got settled, he very cheekily said, “I don’t think anyone noticed that I was late.”

This is Mison’s first Dragon Con, but Castellano had been here before. Mison said that Castellano used to return from Dragon Con and tell him “it’s so cool, you have to go next year!” Mison also said that he’s really enjoying meeting people, hanging out, and signing things.

One fan wondered what Ichabod would do to guide someone who suddenly appeared from the 18^th century. Mison started to answer that Ichabod would probably warn them about the food, but then he changed his mind, saying that Ichabod actually really loves junk food. He went on to say that he thought there would be some part of Ichabod that would just “love to see them destroyed” so he could be quite smug that he survived it all.

The Season 2 finale gave the audience an extended glimpse into what Ichabod was like in his own time, and that raised the question of whether, given the choice, Ichabod would return to his own time or stay with Abbie. Mison answered that if he had been asked that question a year ago, he would have said Ichabod would want to return to his own time, but now he would choose to stay with Abbie. Leaning in, Mison teasingly added, “Hashtag Ichabbie.” Later on, in answer to another question, Mison said that he hopes the writers don’t actually go down the romantic pathway and said that he thinks Beharie would agree. “It makes for such an interesting dynamic to have them completely rely on each other, completely love each other, completely get so annoyed with each other, and just be friends and really solid companions. It’s not very often that you see two leads who don’t then just fall into each other’s arms at the end of each day. And also it does leave a lot more room for just a lot of snarking at each other. So no, I don’t think there are plans so far for them to jump into bed.”

Unsurprisingly, with the deaths of Henry and Katrina at the end of Season 2, a couple of questions centered around the relationships with those characters. Mison said that when they brought Noble on to the show, he was told that Noble would be playing his son. What Mison did not know was that Noble would eventually turn out to be the Horseman of War. He said that it was really fun watching Noble play with those things and place little hints along the way about both twists. Now when Mison goes back to watch the episodes, he can see what Noble was doing, but at the time he just thought it was maybe a slightly odd but interesting character choice.

Regarding Katrina, Mison said it was a surprise to him how things went, but it was a huge surprise to be involved in her death. He noted that there were several discussions about if Katrina does go bad and has to be taken out, who would do it? If Abbie kills Katrina, what kind of effects would that have on their relationship? The focus of Season 1 was largely about getting to Katrina and getting her out of Purgatory, but then as her personality changed and she had an effect on how the group functioned, it became clear that she simply didn’t belong in this time. “So I killed her,” Mison said with a cheeky grin.

Since there were a few questions about the relationship between Abbie and Ichabod, one audience member wanted to know how much of their chemistry came from Beharie and Mison and if it was as instantaneous between them as it was between the two characters. Mison said that he first auditioned for the role by putting himself on tape and sending it in, assuming “it just goes on the English pile that no one watches.” But then Mison was called in to do a screen test with Nicole, what he also referred to as a “chemistry read,” and the chemistry was there, instantly. They were throwing ideas back and forth, playing around, which he said is really all you need “for this mysterious chemistry.” Mison said that about an hour after he left the room, he got the call saying that he had gotten the job because they worked so nicely together. Mison considers himself very lucky and teasingly added, “I think she would say that she’s incredibly lucky. Really, really lucky. I don’t think she can believe how lucky she is.”

We were also incredibly lucky to have been so well entertained at the panel by the guests—both expected and unexpected. Sleepy Hollow returns for its third season on Fox on October 1.