Positive emotions were high among attendees at Sunday’s WonderCon 2010 Chuck panel featuring Zachary Levi, Josh Gomez, and Adam Baldwin, along with show creator/producers Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz. This was no doubt caused by the Con’s surprise screening of the latest episode a day earlier than its regular prime time air date.

That episode, “Chuck vs. The Other Guy” was originally written as the show’s Season 3 finale, but after the network ordered more than its initial 13-episode run, the team had an option to amend it for the new finale but decided against it after reading the script.

“Essentially we had designed the whole season to get to that point… Chuck and Sarah in Paris,” Fedak said.

“It actually works out great for fans because you get what was designed to be a season finale in the middle of the season and then it’s on us to ramp it back up again, Schwartz said. “So you get twice as much excitement. It’s a win-win.”

After a two-week hiatus due to Winter Olympics coverage, NBC’s Chuck returned tonight for the second half of season three, which shows no signs of slowing down.

While the preview (embedded below) shows Chuck (Zachary Levi) possibly getting busy with fellow Nerd Hearder Hannah (Kristin Kreuk), Casey (Adam Baldwin) losing a tooth, a tiger, and tons of kung fu action, stars Zachary Levi and Josh Gomez were gracious enough to sit down for a press conference call to discuss even more about what to expect in the episodes ahead.

Levi will pull double duty as both actor and director for “Chuck vs the Beard” airing March 8, which sees Chuck being taken off active duty after having problems trying to use the Intersect. The episode is said to have the entire cast involved and could have major repercussion on future story lines.

“I had reservations about it until it was signed off by the powers that be,” Levi said. “I can’t believe they let me do this episode.”