The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WHICH STARS WILL BE COMING TO DRAGON CON
Wen, Shatner, Lee, Dalton to appear at Labor Day convention.
She’s been a doctor, a Disney princess and a deadly killer, which makes Ming-Na Wen a triple threat in the pop culture universe.
This Labor Day weekend the Chinese-American actress will make her first appearance at Atlanta’s Dragon Con, the four-day science fiction and fantasy convention expected to bring 82,000 fans to downtown Atlanta.
As weapons expert Melinda May in the ABC television drama “Agents of Shield,” Wen does battle with the “Inhumans,” and the bad guys in Hydra.
Elizabeth Henstridge, who plays biochemist Jemma Simmons, and Brett Dalton, who plays Hydra leader Grant Ward, will also make an appearance at the convention.
Wen has served as the voice of that other warrior, Mulan, in the Disney movie “Mulan” and “Mulan II,” and in the video game Kingdom Hearts II. For more than five years she played Dr. Jing-Mei “Deb” Chen on the NBC drama “ER.”
Wen will only appear on Saturday, September 2.
There will be more than 400 personalities from film, television, comic books and video games visiting Dragon Con to meet fans, sign autographs and hold panels. The perennial con favorite, William Shatner, and the master of the Marvel universe, Stan Lee, will both attend. Lee, 94, will serve as grand marshal of the Dragon Con parade.
One of the high points of the convention—the free parade— takes place Saturday, September 2 at 10 a.m., passing through the streets of downtown Atlanta, drawing thousands of viewers and inspiring scores of cosplay fans.
Here are some of the personalities, in addition to Wen, Lee and Shatner, who will be part of this year’s convention.
■ Elizabeth Henstridge, who plays biochemist Jemma Simmons in “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
and Brett Dalton plays Hydra leader Grant Ward.
■ Matt Smith, who served as the eleventh incarnation of the time-travelling “Doctor Who” from 2010 to 2013.
■ Karen Gillan and Alex Kingston, who were companions to Smith’s Eleventh Doctor. Gillan also portrays the assassin Nebula in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies.
■ Lena Headey, queen regent Cersei Lannister on the HBO series “Game of Thrones.” Heady also was Queen Gorgo in “300” and “300: Rise of an Empire.”
■ Nathan Fillion, who served seven years on the ABC television show “Castle,” and in the short-lived television series “Firefly.”
■ Karl Urban, who was Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in the rebooted “Star Trek” movie series and played horse rider Eomer in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
■ Peter Mayhew, who created the role of Chewbacca, which he played in five “Star Wars” movies. He will be joined by Daniel Logan, who played young Boba Fett in “Episode II: Attack of the Clones” and voiced Boba Fett in the animated television series “The Clone Wars.”
Dragon Con spreads over the four-day Labor Day weekend, with events and activities taking place in the AmericasMart Buildings #1 and #2 and at five host hotels – Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Marriott Marquis, Hilton Atlanta, Westin Peachtree, and Sheraton Atlanta.