Image source: Everett Collection
New York Comic Con kicks off this weekend, promising all things nerdy, scary, silly and entertaining. If you’re planning to join in on the fun at the nation’s biggest pop culture convention from October 6-9, be sure to keep looking over your shoulder because you might unexpectedly run into one of Hollywood’s scariest Halloween franchise villains.
NYCC was forced to go completely virtual in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and was held on a reduced schedule in 2021, so fans should be especially excited for this year’s festivities. “We’re going full throttle this year,” ReedPop CMO Fallon Prinzivali tells POPSUGAR of what fans can expect from this year’s full-scale convention, which is expected to draw 200,000 fans of all ages and backgrounds.
“There’s so much pop culture from the time you’re born until you grow up. There’s stuff that really speaks to you,” Prinzivali says of the full range of panels and activations fans will choose from at the convention. “Our fans are obsessed with nostalgia, so there’s always something. It doesn’t matter if you’re a new fan, new to the pop culture space, or have something you’ve loved for the past 30 years.”
This year, fans can enjoy countless nostalgic events. Original Blue’s Clues star Steve Burns is hosting a one-off event where he will have a candid discussion about “What happened to Steve?” after he left the show; casts from “Back to the Future” and “Smallville” will host a reunion discussion; and Jamie Lee Curtis will pay tribute 45 years of the Halloween franchise in a moderated conversation Drew Barrymore.
Speaking of Halloween franchise, Prinzivali teases that the slasher villain, Michael Myers, will be crawling around the center of the Javits throughout the convention. “They might want to know why he’s studying the show. Maybe there’s a little scavenger hunt in the audience,” she says. And they also have to prepare for even bigger surprises. “You just never know what to expect and what you’re going to see at New York Comic Con. There are surprises around every corner,” she continues. “[In 2015], Mark Ruffalo and Jared Leto wore masks throughout the show and just took pictures with the fans because the fans wanted to take pictures with the character in the mask and later they realized who was really behind the mask. Anything can happen here.”
But you’ll have to be on the lookout if you want to be the winner of the Michael Myers scavenger hunt, as there could be any number of NYCC attendees dressed as the famous character. Cosplay will receive special attention at this year’s convention thanks to Central Crown Cosplay Championship. “Cosplay is one of the main parts of our show. He gives our fans the freedom to express their creativity… They become whoever they want to be, and I feel like that’s really incredible,” says Prinzivali.
Image source: Reed Pop
Panels for all the hottest TV shows and movies will also be on the site from the cast “Wednesday” from Netflix to Amazon Prime Video The Wheel of Time and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. To put it mildly, there’s a lot of costume inspiration at these shows, so to cultivate even more cosplay, this year’s convention will feature “workshops where experienced cosplayers can show beginners how to create their own cosplay,” as well as a cosplay repair station so that “if if you do your cosplay during the show, you can go to Cosplay Central and they’ll help you fix it,” Prinzivali says.
New York Comic Con will be held October 6-9 at New York’s Javits Center. If you are interested in attending, there are still tickets available for Thursday available through the NYCC websiteand tickets for Friday through Sunday can be purchased through Light.
