Fan Expo Chicago Surprises Con Attendees with Bonus 'The Thing' Panel ft. Keith David and John Carpenter
- Marielle Bokor
- 15 hours ago
- 2 min read
Chicago's conventions have grown exponentially even in just the past 5 years, to say nothing of what was some humble beginnings. They draw star power it's hard to conceive of these days, and even bigger crowds.
This year's Fan Expo Chicago was packed to the brim with exciting reunions and big names. We had Jared Padalecki, Karl Urban, William Shatner, Christopher Lloyd, ALL the Hobbits (and even a second breakfast!) and much of the Goonies cast. Sam Raimi and John Carpenter were here. Mr. T, John Rhys Davies, Keith David.
But one weird thing - despite having Keith David, John Carpenter, and Kurt Russell on the list of celeb guests, there was no The Thing panel. For horror fans (and movie fans in general) this was pretty glaring. It's not like Fan Expo hates a reunion. We had almost the entire cast of The Boys and The Goonies AND The Hobbits, so ...what gives?
Furthermore, Kurt Russell was all the way on the final day. And, you know, maybe that was why. I can tell you I checked the schedule over at least 5 times to see if I was missing something.
Still, you can't look a gift horse in the mouth, and it's amazing to see all these people from so many fandoms we've been a part of growing up and through now. And honestly? As someone who's worked the last decade of conventions, putting a huge panel like Kurt Russell at the end of the day Sunday was a little bit of a relief, since it potentially cuts down on crowds. Sometimes.
Kurt Russell's panel was the talk of the convention all day on Sunday, and the line was immense. During a convention where we hadn't filled the main stage room at any point, it was full to the brim.
Kurt Russell was amazing, and we'll have tons more on his panel later on. But about halfway through, when the conversation turned to The Thing, something magical happened.
Keith David and John Carpenter walked out, and thus we had our very own, unexpected and very highly anticipated and requested "The Thing" panel. And it. was. amazing.
Don't take our word for it though - see what we saw !
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