Tag Archive for: dragon con 2024

DRAGON CON 2024: THE YEAR OF THE PANEL

Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 9/14/24

From Star Wars to the newest hit show to old school Anime and everything in between, Dragon Con is a yearly convention that brings all of the universes together for one big party. Whether you want to people watch or enjoy a parade, meet up with like-minded strangers, and enjoy a panel or two, there is so much to do at Dragon Con. This year with our 80,000 closest friends, was no different. Stunning cosplays, fun celebrity panels, enchanting parade, and a ribbon or two later Dragon Con 2024 was one for the books.

Panels

We are calling this year, Dragon Con 2024: The Year of the Panel! After the writers and actors strike last year prevented the usual TV show or movie focus, this year the panel came roaring back to life for us. We went to more than we ever had before from the entire star studded cast of 12 Monkeys TV show, the beautiful and funny Jared Padaleki best known for his time on Supernatural, and even dropped into a Marvel panel starting Vincent D’Onofrio, who I loved in Full Metal Jacket.

12 Monkeys panel had all of the stars like Aaron Stanford who played Cole, Amanda Schull who played Cassie and even Emily Hampshire that played Jennifer Goines. They spoke about their audition stories. The stand out was Shull who plays Cassie, she auditioned 7 or more times for this role. What she didn’t know is that a big star, they didn’t say who, was supposed to play Cole and wanted his wife to play Cassie. She would have a read with him and he wouldn’t show up or would just be super mean. I would never want to audition!! Some other fun facts were that they all hated the chair the most and they all spoke about what roles they would like to play other than their character.


The second panel was with the beautiful Jared Padaleki who started out in Gilmore Girls. Did you know he was only supposed to be in about 4, but ended up in 70? His biggest role came with Supernatural as Sam Winchester. On Supernatural is where he met his wife, Genevieve, who played Ruby, the demon. She was supposed to be with him on this panel but herself and her kids were all sick. He also revealed his least favorite episode was the Nutcracker and gave a descriptive detail of some of the stunts he had to perform. What I really enjoyed about this panel was how kind, warm, personable, and funny he is in person.


Finally, the best story of the entire con was at the Marvel panel with Vincent D’Onofrio. I am a huge Stanley Kubrick fan and am very familiar with his role as Private Pile in Full Metal Jacket. John and I agree we really loved his audition story about getting that role. He was good friends with Matthew Modine, who was the lead in the movie. He was bouncing and ran into him, Matthew told him to send in a tape. Back then you had to rent a camera to tape an audition and it was expensive. So, he sent in a tape to Stanley Kubrick and a bit later a British man called him saying Stanley Kubrick was on the line. He thought it was a prank from his friends and hung up on him! On Stanley! Kubrick called him back and said, “DON’T HANG UP!” So he sends him words to read. There was no punctuation or anything and he would have to tape himself again reading those words. He deduced from the words it was a Vietnam era soldier in training. He got the part. He also spoke about THAT scene in Full Metal Jacket, Kubrick’s only note was to channel Lon Chaney, you know from Nosferatu. Be epic. He said he knew he nailed it when Kubrick brought him back to see it on the screen. Did you know the drill sergeant was an actual drill sergeant? No wonder it was so lifelike!

Trends


Trends are usually a big thing, but this year it seemed like nothing really trended big like Barbie and Mario last year or Stranger Things the year before. One trend that is still going strong is the Loyal order of the ribbon. In case you don’t know, the ribbon trend is that people make ribbons and trade them for other ribbons. They actually were in the parade this year! I got an amazing ribbon about Supernatural this year that said, “Jared finally.” There are so many great ones, I am partial to the carpet ribbon and the 24601 from Les Misérables last year as my favorites ever.


With that another year at Dragon Con is done.

AN OVERFLOWING GUEST LIST AT DRAGON CON 2024

Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 8/6/24

JOHN CLEESE, WALTER KOENIG, DANNY TREJO, JODIE WHITTAKER,

GIANCARLO ESPOSITO, VINCENT D’ONOFIRO, MING-NA WEN, AND COBIE SMULDERS

HEAD UP AN OVERFLOWING GUEST LIST AT DRAGON CON

Comics Legends and Creators Jim Steranko and Marv Wolfman Will Meet Fans

Newbon and English Lead a Large Cast of Baldur’s Gate III Voices; McFadden, Spiner, and Frakes Host a Meetup of Star Trek: Picard Fans; And Roswell Cast Reunites for its 25th Anniversary

Website here.

A trio of living legends – John Cleese, Walter Koenig, and action movie icon Danny Trejo – lead a stellar list of celebrity guests headed to Dragon Con, Atlanta’s internationally known pop culture, fantasy, science fiction, and gaming convention, for Labor Day weekend.

They will be joined by Giancarlo Esposito, Doctor Who’s Jodie Whittaker, Emmy-nominated Vincent D’Onofrio, Disney princess Ming-Na Wen, Firefly’s Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk, Marvel’s Cobie Smulders, and comics legends Jim Steranko and Marv Wolfman, all coming out to meet fans, lead panel discussions, and sign autographs.

Other top guests from television and movies include Resident Alien’s Tudyk, Sara Tomko, Alice Wetterlund, and Meredith Garretson; Baldur’s Gate III’s Neil Newbon, Jennifer English, Devora Wilde, Theo Solomon, and Aliona Baranova; Star Trek: Picard will be represented by Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden, Johnathan Frakes, John de Lancie, and Todd Stashwick and fans of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds can see Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Dan Jeannotte, Melissa Navia, and Babs Olusanmokun.

Fans of WB’s hit aliens-among-us drama Roswell will have a chance to celebrate its 25th Anniversary with an original cast reunion featuring Shiri Appleby, Jason Behr, Majandra Delfino, Brendan Fehr, and Nick Wechsler.

Karen Prell, better known as Red Fraggle, will lead a band of puppeteers – and their Fraggle Rock puppets – from Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock television series in a series of sing-a-longs, panel discussions, and puppetry demonstrations. She will be joined by John Tartaglia (Gobo), Kevin Clash (Uncle Travelling Matt), Donna Kimball (Mokey), Jordan Lockhart (Wembley), Frank Meschkuleit (Boober/Pa Gorg) and Ben Durocher.

For Gen X fans, Dragon Con welcomes the cast of the original 1980s animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles including Barry Gordon, Cam Clarke, Renae Jacobs, Rob Paulsen, and Townsend Coleman – all four pizza-munching, crime-fighting turtles plus reporter April O’Neil.

Other media guests will represent Smallville, Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D, Heroes, 12 Monkeys, X-Men 97, Star Trek: Lower Decks, the Harry Potter franchise, and video game Demon Slayer.

An estimated 72,000 people are expected to attend Dragon Con over the five-day Labor Day Weekend – Aug. 29 to Sept. 2 – with events and activities across AmericasMart Buildings Two and Three and five host hotels – Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Marriott Marquis, Hilton Atlanta, Westin Peachtree, and Courtland Grand.

English actor and writer Cleese is best known as a co-founder of the Monty Python comedy troupe, responsible for Monty Python’s Flying Circus television show, three Monty Python films and an assortment of television and movie specials, video games and live tours. Outside of Monty Python, Cleese has had roles in dozens of television shows, movies, and video games, winning an Emmy for his guest appearance in the sitcom Cheers.  Cleese will be at Dragon Con on Saturday and Sunday only.

Koenig, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov in the original 1960s Star Trek television series, brought teen idol good looks to the bridge of the USS Enterprise. Koenig also appeared in all seven motion pictures featuring the original cast. Later in his career, Koenig had a featured role in the science fiction television series Babylon 5.

Trejo, the self-described ex-con turned icon, has appeared in over 350 movies in his career and is best known for his leading role in the three Machete action films and the first three Spy Kids films. With his distinctive, tough guy looks, Trejo regularly plays gangsters, convicts, and other criminals. Despite his appearance, he is also known as one of the nicest people in Hollywood.

Giancarlo Esposito, best known to fans for playing a series of wicked characters in Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The Mandalorian, The Boys, and Once Upon a Time, will next appear as the villain Sidewinder in Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World.

English actress Whittaker is best known for her five-year turn as the Thirteenth Doctor in the long-running Doctor Who television series, followed by her work in the crime drama Broadchurch. Whittaker, who will be at Dragon Con on Sunday only, will appear with Doctor Who castmate Catherine Tate.

D’Onofrio is best known to fans as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Daredevil, Hawkeye, (Georgia-produced) Echo and two new series slated for 2024 and 2025. Other key roles include Pvt. Pyle in Full Metal Jacket, Edgar the Bug in Men in Black, Hoskins in Jurassic World, Jack Horne in Magnificent Seven, and eleven years as Det. Robert Goren in Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Wen, the voice of Mulan in Disney’s animated movie and television spin-offs, has appeared in a wide variety of fan-favorite television, including Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D, Star Wars’ The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, and Stargate Universe.

Fillion, best known to Dragon Con fans as Capt. Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds on television’s Firefly and its follow up film Serenity, currently stars in television’s The Rookie. He has previously starred in television’s Castle and made appearances in the Marvel films Suicide Squad, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and, in theaters now, Deadpool & Wolverine.

Tudyk, who appeared alongside Fillion in Firefly and Serenity, currently stars in SyFy’s Resident Alien and previously appeared in Star Wars Rogue One, American Dad, and pop-culture convention take down series, Con Man.

Cobie Smulders has played Agent Maria Hill in six Marvel Cinematic Universe movies between 2012 and 2019 as well as reprised the role in several MCU television shows, including Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D and What if? She was also a lead actor for nine seasons of the hit sitcom How I Met Your Mother.

Comic writer and artist Steranko changed the look of comics with innovative artwork featuring surrealism, psychedelia, op art, and graphic storytelling that became a benchmark of 1960s pop culture and the Silver Age of Comic Books.

Wolfman is an influential comics writer for DC and Marvel who created or co-created dozens of characters, including Cyborg, Raven, Deathstroke, Tim Drake/Red Robin, and Blade. In January 1970, Wolfman was the first comic writer to receive printed credit for his work, kicking off an industry wide change of practice.

DRAGON CON 2024 – GUESTS OF HONOR NAMED

Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 6/26/24

DRAGON CON NAMES KRESS, PICACIO AS

2024 LITERARY AND ARTIST GUESTS OF HONOR

Thursday, August 29th – Monday, September 2nd

Dragon Con, Atlanta’s internationally known pop culture, fantasy, sci-fi, and gaming convention, has named author Nancy Kress and artist John Picacio as its 2024 Literary and Artist Guests of Honor.

Dragon Con’s 2024 convention runs from Thursday, Aug. 29 to Monday, Sept. 2 with events and activities across five host hotels – Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Marriott Marquis, Hilton Atlanta, Westin Peachtree, and Courtland Grand Hotel (formerly Sheraton Atlanta) – and AmericasMart Buildings #2 and #3.

From its first convention in 1987, Dragon Con has spotlighted the authors and artists whose creative contributions have breathed life into the realms of fantasy and science fiction as Literary and Artist Guests of Honor. Both Kress and Picacio will be recognized throughout the event and will be on hand to meet fans and participate in panels to provide insight into their success and love of fandom.

Nancy Kress is a multi-award-winning science fiction author whose work explores the far reaches of science and its impact on humanity. Kress, a prolific writer, has penned over thirty books, including acclaimed novels such as Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Beggars in Spain and the multiple Nebula Award-winning Fall series. Her stories delve into genetic engineering, societal change, and the ethical dilemmas of a future shaped by technology. Beyond novels, Kress is a skilled writer of short stories and a passionate advocate for the craft, having served as a columnist for Writer’s Digest and instructor at workshops like Clarion. For more information, visit https://nancykress.com/

John Picacio is an award-winning artist renowned for his captivating illustrations in the realms of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Over his illustrious career, Picacio has brought iconic scenes to life for major franchises including Star Trek and X-Men, as well as gracing the covers of bestselling books by George R.R. Martin, Michael Moorcock, and countless others.  A master of both traditional and digital techniques, Picacio’s artwork is celebrated for its depth, vibrancy, and imaginative portrayal of fantastical worlds.  He is a three-time Hugo Award winner and has garnered numerous accolades throughout his career, solidifying his place as a leading light in the genre. For more information about John, please visit https://johnpicacio.com/

About Dragon Con

Dragon Con is the internationally known pop culture convention held each Labor Day Weekend (Aug. 29 – Sept. 2, 2024) in Atlanta. Organized for fans, Dragon Con features more than 3,500 hours of comics, film, television, costuming, art, music, and gaming over four days. For more information, please visit www.dragoncon.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).