This weekend, August 22 and 23, zombies will take over Boston, along with a few werewolves and mischievous humans. No, it's not a supernatural apocalypse. It's the next best thing: Walker Stalker Con, a convention with a theme based around The Walking Dead.
Fans of the The Walking Dead (and the sci-fi world in general) will hit the Westin Boston Waterfront Saturday for the second ever Walker Stalker Con Boston. Founded by the hosts of the eponymous The Walker Stalkers Podcast with James & Eric,” the convention was launched by a fan-based Kickstarter campaign in 2013 and debuted its first event in Atlanta, Georgia in November of that year. The first Boston edition was held June of 2014.
The second Boston installment of the weekend-long event will include appearances from 37 guest actors, 11 panels, a day-time musical performance both Saturday and Sunday from Katelyn Nacon, who played Enid on TWD, autograph and photo op session, vendors selling TWD and other sci-fi merchandise, and of course, a cosplay contest. In addition, there will be an ongoing Apocalypse Zombie experience — where people can go through a mock zombie war zone, fighting them off with laser guns — and an Emily Kinney concert.
Among the 37 actors participating are two Lost actors — Nestor Carbonell, who played Richard, and Mira Furlan, who played Danielle — two Breaking Bad actors — Giancarlo Esposito, who played Gus, and RJ Mitte, who played Walt Jr. — two stars from Bitten — Laura Vandervoot, who plays Elena, and Greg Byrk, who plays Jeremy — Zach Galligan from Gremlins and Ming Chen from AMC's Comic Book Men. The remainder are (or were) from TWD, with Chandler Riggs (Carl), Emily Kinney (Beth), Sonequa Martin-Green (Sasha) and Tyler James Williams (Noah) being some of the most notable, in terms of their characters.
Five other actors were scheduled to appear but cancelled: Henry Ian Cusick, of Lost and The 100, Daniel Dae Kim, of Lost and Hawaii 5-0, Chad L. Coleman, of TWD, Alanna Masterson, of TWD, and the virtual queen of sci-fi TV shows, Elizabeth Mitchell, from Lost, V, Revolution, Once Upon a Time and recently, Crossing Lines. Those cancellations are disappointing, but luckily there are still so many celebrities and activities to go around.
Speaking of those activities... things kick off Saturday morning at 10:45 a.m. with a panel called "Welcome to Walker Stalker Con: Sicktionary." At 11:30 a.m., there is a panel featuring Kyla Kenedy and Brighton Sharbino (Lizzie and Mika, of TWD), followed by a panel with Walking Dead novelist Jay Bonansinga, a panel called "Termites" featuring Andrew J. West (Gareth) and Denise Crosby (Mary), and "Alexandrians" featuring Corey Brill (Pete) and Daniel Bonjour (Aiden).
Saturday caps off with a cosplay contest at 4 p.m. and an Emily Kinney concert at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday starts with a panel featuring the Bitten stars at 10:30 a.m. The next panel is called "Original Crew" and features former TWD actors IronE Singleton (T-dog) and Jeryl Prescott (Jacqui). Afterwards comes a Breaking Bad panel with Esposito and Mitte, followed by a panel with Tyler James Williams, and finally, one with Zach Galligan.
The weekend wraps up with a panel called "Zombies: Mind, Body and Society" with Drs. Steven Schlozman, Peter Cummings and Daniel Drezner.
With all the panels, vendors, special events and actors involved in Walker Stalker Con Boston 2015, it’s sure to be an apocalyptic-level, bloody good time.
If you haven’t gotten your tickets yet, find them here.