Media Celebrities Dominate Philly Pop Culture Expo
While Fan Expo features the usual assortment of pop culture attractions — celebrities, comic book creators, cosplay, games, and other activities — media celebrities are the primary attraction for many. Despite a few cancellations, this year’s Fan Expo Philadelphia included a spate of movie, tv, and animation stars.
Celebrity Programming
For many attendees the prize is purchasing an autograph or a photo op with their favorite celebrity. Many (although not all) of the celebs also participate in panel or interview sessions open to all attendees at no extra charge, providing fans the opportunity to hear from a wide array of actors and moviemakers.
This year’s roster of celebrity programing sessions included the following. [Click/press on the image to display a full photo gallery.]
Actor John Rhys-Davies was interviewed by Screen Rant‘s Joe Deckelmeier about his work in two enduring pop culture franchises: the Indiana Jones films and The Lord of the Rings series. Rhys-Davies also made an unannounced appearance in Andy Serkis’ talk.
The “Meet the Cullens” session included members of that Twilight family in conversation with Victor Dandridge: Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen), Jackson Rathbone (Jasper Hale), Kellan Lutz (Emmett Cullen), and Peter Facinelli (Dr. Carlisle Cullen).
Cast members from the CW’s Superman & Lois — Tyler Hoechlin, Bitsie Tulloch, and Michael Cudlitz — spoke with moderator Joe Deckelmeier.
Heather Graham stated this was only her third comic con as she delighted fans with stories from her many film performances, expressed her love of doing comedy, and talked about how she was perceived as awkward and (unbelievable as it sounds) unattractive in her youth.
Fan favorite William Shatner told a story of a past visit to Philadelphia and then took questions from the audience. He discussed his “greatest disappointment” with the production of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and how he regrets compromising his original vision for the film.
Helen Hunt, in conversation with Victor Dandridge, talked about her much beloved television show, Mad About You, and her work in films like Twister and her Oscar-winning performance in As Good as It Gets.
Dolph Lundgren, in another session moderated by Victor Dandridge, talked about how he almost didn’t get the role of Ivan Drago in Rocky IV because he was thought to be too tall. He discussed his time working as a bouncer, meeting superstar model Grace Jones, and subsequently turning down the opportunity to go to MIT. He also reminisced about meeting the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. In response to a question, he revealed his most physically demanding films were Masters of the Universe and Pentathlon.
The “Grimm Tales” session brought together Grimm stars David Giuntoli and Bitsie Tulloch in conversation with Joe Deckelmeier.
While the session with Star Trek‘s most famous Captain was earlier in the day, the afternoon’s “Voyages of Discovery with the Captains of Star Trek” featured two other starship Captains, Star Trek: Voyager‘s Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Star Trek: Discovery‘s Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), in conversation with Kristin Finger.
In a show filled with voice talent, perhaps the most charming was Melanie Zanetti, who spoke with Victor Dandridge about her work voicing Chilli Heeler, Mum from the popular animated television program Bluey. Zanetti talked about how all the cast members record their parts separately. It was three years before she first met her “dog husband” in person.
Versatile actor Andy Serkis, interviewed by Joe Deckelmeier, talked about his many motion-capture performances from Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Caesar in The Planet of the Apes franchise. He discussed how he uses music to focus before performing each role. Midway through the session he was joined by fellow Lord of the Rings actor John Rhys-Davies. Rhys-Davies told the audience independent films from young filmmakers will be the salvation of Hollywood. “The studios don’t get it,” he claimed.
Covering the worlds of both professional wrestling and popular movies, including DC cinematic universe favorite Peacemaker, John Cena‘s session appeared to be the most jam-packed presentation at the show. Although Fan Expo typically doesn’t clear the room between sessions, the Main Stage auditorium was emptied to allow fans who had paid for premium seats to enter first, followed by everyone else. Cena’s session was a moderator-less, rapid fire audience Q and A session.
Mel Gibson discussed his film work, from Mad Max through the Lethal Weapon series with moderator Joe Deckelmeier.
In the most engagingly interactive session at the show, C3PO actor Anthony Daniels — the only actor to appear in all nine Star Wars films — strolled through the audience telling tales and responding to questions. Cosplayers — both from Star Wars and one from Star Trek — got special focus during the lively session.
John Boyega, speaking with Joe Deckelmeier, talked not only about this work as Finn in the Star Wars franchise, but also his breakthrough role in Attack the Block.
The “Inside the Hellaverse” session included voice talent from the animated series Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel with Morgana Ignis, Blake Roman, Cristina Vee, and Alex Brightman.
Horror maven John Carpenter was briefly interviewed by Kristin Finger and then took questions from the audience for the majority of the session. At the end of the talk, host Finger had Carpenter autograph her leg next to her tattoo of Michael Myers.
In “Back to the Future: A Time Travelers Reunion,” Joe Deckelmeier interviewed series actors Christopher Lloyd, Claudia Wells, and James Tolkan.
Everyone’s favorite villain, Giancarlo Esposito, spoke with Victor Dandridge about the many nefarious characters he has played. Three audience members participated in an acting contest by performing a line by Esposito’s Breaking Bad character Gus Fring.
Comics Creators
Comic book writers and artists greeted fans at their tables throughout the three days of the fan fest. A few panel sessions also included comics creators.
A session was slated to feature the powerhouse Batman writer and artist team of Scott Snyder and Greg Capollo. Unfortunately Capullo’s travel plans were thwarted by the weather and he couldn’t make his flight to Philly. In what became a Scott Snyder spotlight session, moderated by Kriss Orlea, the writer talked about how his personal fears underlie many of the stories he has written. He also discussed the origins of DC Comics’ Absolute Universe. He never intended to write the Batman title, he stated, but he kept using Batman as an example when explaining how he saw the Absolute Universe. Each of the creators he spoke with wanted to author other characters. Then, after he pitched Batman to several additional authors, he ultimately decided to take it on himself.
JaVon Stokes spoke with Killadelphia author Rodney Barnes about the Philadelphia based series.
Rodney Barnes returned for a conversion on Star Wars comics with fellow writer Charles Soule and editor Heather Antos, moderated by JaVon Stokes.
Cosplay and More
This year cosplay areas were set up along the lengthy corridor on the southern side of the Convention Center, which provided abundant space and ample light for photography. And, of course, cosplayers were spotted throughout the fan fest roaming the exhibition hall or at panel sessions.
Elsewhere, games, contests, and other activities filled out the weekend.
For the full set of photos from the event, see the Flickr photo album Fan Expo Philadelphia 2025:
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