PHOTOS/VIDEO: Fan Expo Philadelphia – Hayden Christensen, Vincent D’Onofrio, and more, 06/03/23
Following many years as Wizard World, the long-running pop culture convention relaunched as Fan Expo Philadelphia in 2022. Its second year proved to be no sophomore slump as even more well-known celebrity guests met thousands of fans of all ages at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Friday, June 2 through Sunday, June 4, including Hayden Christensen, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Christina Ricci, Sam Raimi, Vincent D’Onofrio, Zachary Levi, Sean Astin, Peter Weller, Charlie Cox, Giancarlo Esposito, Jon Bernthal, Katee Sackhoff, Henry Winkler, and Steve Burns, among others.
Programming highlights on Saturday included a “Daredevil” panel with Vincent D’Onofrio and Charlie Cox; an “Arrow” reunion with Stephen Amell, Emily Bett Rickards, and David Ramsey; Sean Astin talking about “Lord of the Rings,” “Rudy,” and “Stranger Things;” and Hayden Christensen closing things out to a capacity crowd. After a long day of signing autographs and posing for photos, the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy actor sat down for a discussion about his time playing Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and revisiting the role in the “Obi-Wan Kenobi” TV series last year. He participated in a few games and answered some submitted questions from fans, which was all captured in an NEPA Scene live stream:
Voice actors like Peter Cullen (“Transformers,” “Winnie the Pooh”), Tara Strong (“The Powerpuff Girls,” “Teen Titans”), Jodi Benson (“The Little Mermaid”), David Hayter (“Metal Gear Solid”), and Kathleen Herles (“Dora the Explorer”) were in attendance alongside artists and comic book creators like Joe Quesada (former Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment), Jim Shooter (former Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics), Dan Slott (“Spider-Man”), Frank Cho (“The Mighty Avengers”), Joe Rubinstein (“Wolverine”), J.G. Jones (“Wanted”), and Tim Jacobus (“Goosebumps”). Many more lined the rows and rows of vendors as cosplayers showed off their best work in photos and contests held throughout the weekend.
Photos by Jason Riedmiller Photography/NEPA Scene
