This past weekend, Laughing Place was invited down to the Los Angeles Convention center in Southern California to attend and cover L.A. Comic Con 2024. Below are my photos and recap from our experience at this year’s event.
I spent two of the three days at L.A. Comic Con this year, and I will say right off the bat that this was my favorite iteration ever of the event, including back when it was called Comikaze Expo and Stan Lee’s L.A. Comic Con. Friday was the slower of the two days, but that allowed me more time to look around the exhibit hall floor and get a sense of the layout around the convention center this year (for some reason Banana Wolverine was a big thing).
A big theme for Friday became droid-spotting, as I stumbled upon R2-D2 and another astromech friend.
Captain R-3X from Star Tours was also roaming around the floor.
And one booth had a life-sized K-2SO along with a working C-3PO animatronic.
Our friends at the popular apparel company RSVLTS had a booth this year, with some fun exclusives for L.A. Comic Con.
The big celebrity appearance on the main stage Friday afternoon was Rosario Dawson from Star Wars: Ahsoka.
During her appearance, Rosario talked about how she first landed the role of Ahsoka Tano in The Mandalorian, with the casting inspired by some Star Wars fan art. She also said her mom cried the first time Rosario got to say “May the Force Be with You” on-screen as Ahsoka. Then she discussed her voice roles in other franchises like LEGO Batman, Terminator, and Wonder Woman. “Voice acting was always something I was compelled by,” she said. Next she mentioned how her recurring role in Marvel’s Daredevil helped inspire people to become real-life nurses.
Answering a fan question, Rosario Dawson talked about her favorite Ahsoka moments from the history of the character in the Star Wars franchise.
The first panel we attended on Saturday morning was for the “Building Friendships” podcast, which welcomed guests such as screenwriters Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez from the LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy miniseries and LEGO Masters winner Krystle Starr. The panel discussed their careers and history with LEGO, all while building sets right there in front of the audience. This was a very fun and lively conversation, and we walked away with some cool swag.
Next we attended a panel about the storyboarding process on The Simpsons and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with guest artists Mike Polcino and Doug Brode. This was actually pretty fascinating and I learned a lot about how these projects are mapped out in the pre-production stage, plus we got to look at some never-before-seen storyboards from 2008’s original Iron Man movie.
In the convention center’s main lobby following that panel there was a big Marvel cosplay meetup. Passing through I spotted a female Captain America, Tony Stark as Doctor Doom with Spider-Man (Homecoming), Deadpool and Wolverine, and a group cosplay of Spider-Man villains. The photo of Gambit was from the day before.
On the main stage that afternoon, we saw actors Harvey Guillen and Kristen Schaal from FX’s vampire comedy What We Do In the Shadows take the stage to discuss their roles in the final season of the show.
Both Guillen and Schall said the most meaningful part of their experience shooting What We Do In the Shadows was literally the friends they made along the way. “Comedy is getting disrespected these days,” said Kristen. “It’s such a hard thing to do.” During the panel, they repeatedly tried to one-up each other on which of them is good friends with more of the show’s cast members and guest stars. Schaal joked that Mark Hamill checks in on her regularly. Harvey talked about the importance of the series to the LGBTQ community, especially via Guillermo’s “coming out” episode. He also discussed how Guillermo will try to find his own best self in season six after realizing his dream of becoming a vampire was not meant to be.
While this next panel was not Disney-related, it was very cool to see The Addams Family movie cast reunited on stage, with Anjelica Huston (Morticia), Christopher Lloyd (Uncle Fester), Christina Ricci (Wednesday), Jimmy Workman (Pugsley), and Carel Struycken (Lurch) all in attendance.
Next it was time for four members of The Mandalorian’s cast to take the stage: Giancarlo Esposito (Moff Gideon), Ming-Na Wen (Fennec Shand), Emily Swallow (The Armorer), and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Captain Carson Teva).
During this panel, Giancarlo Esposito talked about his love and admiration for James Earl Jones and how actors influence each other, Ming-Na Wen addressed a fan question about who would win in a fight between Fennec Shand, Melinda May, and Mulan, Emily Swallow talked about appearing at charity events in full costume as the Armorer, and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee talked about his extensive toy collection while wearing a “Directed by Dave Filoni” t-shirt. “I would love to be involved in more of The Mandalorian,” said Giancarlo in response to another question. “I know they’re making a movie right now. I don’t know if it will go back to being a show. I did leave a perfect opening [for my character], so there’s a possibility that Moff Gideon will return.” The cast also paid tribute to the late, great Carl Weathers.
The Mandalorian panel drew a big crowd on the main stage.
But the main event that closed out Saturday afternoon’s presentations was a conversation with Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi star Ewan McGregor.
During this chat, Ewan talked about researching the role of Obi-Wan by watching Sir Alec Guinness’s performance in the original trilogy, and what it was like having an uncle (Denis Lawson, AKA Wedge Antilles) who was a Star Wars actor before him. He also confirmed that he would love to do a Star Wars: The Clone Wars live-action movie using de-aging technology: “That way Hayden [Christensen] and I could really work together again.” At one point the moderator asked him, “What would you like to do in Star Wars that you haven’t done already?” and he replied, “Obi-Wan Kenobi season 2!” He also described what it was like to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame recently, and touched upon his friendship with the late Carrie Fisher. Perhaps most relevantly for L.A. Comic Con, he said he always likes to share a brief personal moment with people who pay to get his autograph or take photos with him at conventions, because he knows they share a love of film with him.
In the clip below, Ewan McGregor talks about the difference between learning dance choreography for Moulin Rouge! and fight choreography for the Star Wars films.
In this next clip he answers the question, “What is your advice for new actors joining the Star Wars franchise?”
And lastly, Ewan McGregor told a hilarious story about his favorite, most memorable moment filming the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
Earlier Saturday afternoon there was also a Star Wars cosplay meetup in the L.A. Convention Center lobby.
That’s it from L.A. Comic Con 2024! I genuinely think this convention gets a little bit better and more fleshed-out every year, so I anticipate the 2025 event to be even more fun. For additional information, be sure to visit L.A. Comic Con’s official website.
