'Orphan Black' fans give Tatiana Maslany standing ovation at Comic-Con

If you doubted that fans really, really love Orphan Black, the show’s Comic-Con panel would immediately change your mind.

The BBC America series’ panel was in one of Comic-Con’s smaller rooms as far as TV shows go, 6A, but the cheers and laughter in the audience were at a volume of a bigger room. When star Tatiana Maslany first walked on stage, she got a standing ovation. Over a dozen security guards had to block audience members from storming the stage at the end of the panel. A representative for fan group Clone Club presented Maslany with “The Best Actress in the World Award.” (Who needs an Emmy when you have that?) Another fan gave Maslany a set of Russian nesting dolls with each painted as one of her characters. Helena was the tiny one in the middle.

Some attendees told the cast how Orphan Black had deeply impacted their lives, including one girl who said she came out after watching the show. Her parents initially didn’t accept this, but when her mom started watching Orphan Black with her, “it helped us rebuild our relationship,” she said, “because she sees Cosima, and she sees that it’s okay and that people are more than their sexuality.” The story had Maslany tearing up.

Jordan Gavaris, who plays Felix, had a heartfelt reply: “In life sometimes, we reduce people down to things like sexuality, their diseases like cancer, or their sex or their gender, or whether or not they like Game of Thrones. But that is not who people are. People are complex, as we say in the show.”

So how can fans expect to endure the wait to season 3? For now, here are some more moments from the Comic-Con panel to tide you over until the clones return:

• Co-creator Graeme Manson said that the writers have “talked about meeting Alison’s mother.” On their casting wish list: Catherine O’Hara.

• Helena’s chance for a little romance is one of co-creator John Fawcett’s favorite moments from season 2. Suits star Patrick J. Adams played that tow truck guy Helena made out with. He’s a self-professed fan of Orphan Black, and if he has any say in the matter, he’ll make a return appearance. Kristian Bruun (Donnie) said on the panel that he recently ran into Adams at a restaurant, and Adams said he wants to be on the show again.

• The showrunners had originally planned to kill off Mark, but they said they’re very glad they decided not to. Maslany raved about working with Ari: “He just showed up in that diner scene, and sitting opposite him, I just saw this actor was so present. He just had this well of depth.”

• Dylan Bruce talked about the scene where Paul forces Felix down onto a couch at gunpoint to get his fingerprints on the gun: “Jordan got me back [while filming] that scene for doing that to him,” Bruce said. “Felix wears some high-heeled boots. We did about 10, 15 takes, and every time I flipped him over and pushed him down, that boot kicked me in the exact same spot in my shin.”

• Visiting set was a weird experience for Maslany’s mother, the panelists recalled. She thought Sarah looked the most like her daughter, so every time Sarah wasn’t to be seen on set, she found herself wondering, “When’s Tatiana coming back?” even though she of course knew all the other clones were portrayed by her daughter too.