Two and a half months before Elementary premieres on CBS, the pilot screened to a packed ballroom here at Comic-Con and it was all about the woman. Lucy Liu to be specific. The actress and her casting as Joan Watson in the Sherlock Holmes modernization attracted a lot of attention when it was announced in February. But to today’s applauding Comic-Con crowd Liu, who plays a sober companion to the recovering addict Holmes, seemed as natural to the Holmes iconography as the Facebook, cell phone records, drug addiction and New York Mets references in the pilot. It continued during the panel that followed. “We love you” cried out a fan at the back of the hall as Liu responded to an audience question concerning criticism about her casting. “I think the gender change creates a dynamic and chemistry that you don’t see in the films and the BBC series,” said Liu earlier to applause, “I’m not saying it’s romantic but it’s little bit of tingle.” Liu and Elementary’s Holmes, Jonny Lee Miller, were joined on the panel by executive producers Robert Doherty and Carl Beverly. “Lucy was hired because she’s a great actor,” said Beverly to big cheers. Doherty told the crowd that turning Watson into a woman was an essential part of his version of the detective but not to create a romance. “Holmes doesn’t’ quite get the fairer sex, so it made me wonder what would be more trying for Sherlock Holmes to live with a Watson who was a women, but it shouldn’t make a difference, it’s the bond between the two of them.” Elementary debuts on September 27th at 10 PM.

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