August 7th to 9th drew thousands of New Englanders to Fan Expo Boston;. Ttalented cosplayers, enthusiastic fans, unique vendors, and special celebrity guests filled the weekend with wonder. Fan Expo 2026 laid the Millennial nostalgia on thick with some of its featured celebrity guests. Panel appearances by Josh Holloway, Kristin Kruek, and James Marsters represented TV series that anyone growing up in the early aughts ought to know: Lost, Smallville, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fans got to ask their most pressing questions, including cheeky ones. During the Smallville panel, Welling confirmed that he has seen the video edits of his character online.
Speaking of superheroes, the cast of the chaotic series The Boys made prominent appearances on main stage panels on Saturday and Sunday. Erin Moriarty, Valorie Curry, Cameron Crovetti, Colby Minifie, Laz Alonso, and Karl Urban were a big draw at their Q&A panels as they shared their fresh experiences from their recently concluded show. During their Sunday panel, the moderator asked about which prosthetics were hardest to work with. Answers ranged from prosthetic pregnancy bellies to a more x-rated substance that Alonso revealed is actually soap. At this point, Moriarty pointed out the number of children in the audience laughing while remarking, “If any of these kids have seen the boys, shame on your parents!”
Judith Hoag, Jason Marsden, Vinessa Shaw, and Omri Katz appealed to the spookier segment of the 90s crowd, representing the Halloween Disney classics Halloween Town and Hocus Pocus. Beloved child actor Mara Wilson also made an appearance at the convention, and her roles in Matilda, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Miracle on 34th Street need no introduction. During the Hocus Pocus Panel, stars Shaw and Katz reminisced on how filming felt like camp with director Kenny Ortega. Katz even revealed that they brought in leaves from Salem, MA to foster a true sense of reality.
Stars Peter Facinelli, Kellan Lutz, and Ashley Greene brought that signature Forks, Seattle charm. After Lutz tumbled onto the stage the Twilight cast members reminisced on the days when fans would camp in tents to catch movies in the theaters, and how their cast group chat is active to this day. Lutz and Facinelli could be spotted in the audience among the fans at celebrity guest panels all weekend long. Arguably, the delay for their own Q&A panel on Sunday could be attributed to their decision to attend the preceding panel for The Goonies, which featured Sean Astin, Corey Feldman, and Kerri Green.
Many cast members got sentimental, relaying how conventions like this enable them to catch up with their costars and more deeply appreciate their shows. During The Goonies Cast Reunion, Green revealed she usually ends up tearing up and crying between meeting fans. Feldman, who was sporting custom Goonies-themed sneakers emphasized how the theme of being one big family of outcasts carries through today. During the Star Trek panel, Gates McFadden revealed, “I’ve come to appreciate the show a thousand times more because of the fans.” Perhaps the most tender moment of the weekend was an intimate panel with Guy Gilchrist, Jim Henson’s cartoonist for beloved Muppets characters. After live-sketching Miss Piggy, he led the audience in a joyous singalong to “Rainbow Connection” One of the largest gatherings of a cast for a panel was the Hellaverse panel and it happened to be Krystina Alabado’s birthday, the voice actress who plays Cherri Bomb in Hazbin Hotel.
The headline celebrity event of the weekend was the reunion of the four hobbits (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd) of The Lord of the Rings in honor of the trilogy’s 25th anniversary. A premium ticketed, after-hours panel with the quartet easily sold out, and the main stage seating was at full capacity. Frodo and Pippin actors Elijah Wood and Billy Boyd participated in a separate panel on Sunday, and their enthusiastic discussion of clootie dumplings and pizza toppings just felt right. Boyd and Wood chatted about their love of music, and Wood’s sparkling, yet also unexpected, flourishing DJ career.
While the hobbits and 25th anniversary celebration of The Lord of the Rings was the marquee event of Fan Expo Boston 2026, the return of Massachusetts’ own Chris Evans was another massive draw. Captain America himself, introduced by novelist and comic writer Jackson Lanzing, packed in the crowd at the main stage on Sunday afternoon to discuss his portrayal of the legendary super soldier, the contrast between being Captain America and Johnny Storm, and his return to Steve Rogers in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday film. Without revealing too much, Evans recalled how important it was for him to keep Steve Roger’s participation in the film a secret, knowing real fans would appreciate the surprise. He recalled how his character was called Luke Cage on the callsheet to stay incognito. He also reminisced on the first Avengers film, revealing it is actually his and Scarlett Johansson’s idea for the crew to get matching tattoooes…except Mark Ruffalo, who he jokingly encouraged fans who see him next to pester him about it.
Between panels, guest roamed vendors with trinkets galore for any taste, including thousands of comics, a station complete with hundreds of keychains to decorate the maximalist purse of their dreams, mini figures, Funko Pops, fudge, and mystery boxes. The true gems were hidden in artist alley, where creative designs sprawled posters, pins, plushies, and more. The love and care poured into these designs was mirrored by the passion of the vendors, who dressed up to match their stalls, like two Pokémon nurses who were selling adorable clay Pokémon figures.
The joy of cosplay just began there, with guests showcasing their talent through looks that took them half of the year to create. Cosplays like Anne-Ma’s (Bling cosplay) fully rhinestone Iron-Man suit took over 300 hours to create. Looks spanned professional cosplay guests like Bombshell Beckie in an eye-catching Green Goddess and Spiderman MJ Venom hybrid. Guests used unconventional materials like crochet vests and crochet flowers to create a swooping Midsommar May Queen Dress, full outfits of pony beads, and papier-mâché to create Arcane (and League of Legends) Jinx. The magic didn’t just captivate adults, guests dressed as princesses brought wonder to children at the convention. One cosplayer, Cree Michelle (Brown.Suga.Outlaw), dressed as Princess Tiana and gifted children with a little trinket frog of their choosing when they came over to snap photos with her. A reminder of how fandom unites us all.
The Masters of Cosplay: Bay State Qualifier, held on the main stage on Saturday afternoon, showcased the hard work and dedication of some of the most skilled fans in the region, partitioned into Amateur, Journeyman, and Master divisions for cash prizes. From screen-accurate replicas of film and TV costumes to the manifestation of homespun Dungeons & Dragons original characters, the demonstration of costume-making skills like sewing, crochet, embroidery, dying, and sculpting were on full display. The culmination of months of blood, sweat, and tears in some cases, the costumes were a physical representation of the enthusiasm that an event like Fan Expo thrives on.
Next year’s convention will take place in the winter, perhaps bringing some epic holiday cosplay with it. Stay tuned for when earlybird tickets go on sale for 2027 Fan Expo Boston Weekend, December 3rd – 5th, soon.
Check out all of Samantha and Greg’s photos from the show below.
