Jason Isaacs Headlines Planet Comicon Kansas City

Stars of pop culture will descend upon the Midwest next month when Planet Comicon Kansas City takes place at Bartle Hall on April 28-30. Headlining this year’s convention is Jason Isaacs, best known to Harry Potter fans as Death Eater Lucius Malfoy. Kansas City’s largest and longest-running comic book convention and pop culture expo will host a roster of celebrity guests from film and television for three days of panels, performances and Q & A sessions. In addition to Isaacs, the convention features appearances by Billie Piper of Doctor Who fame, Stephen Amell, Arrow’s Oliver Queen, Ron Perlman from Sons of Anarchy, and Wil Wheaton from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Isaacs, who Leaky covered earlier this year as a special guest at Universal Orlando’s A Celebration of Harry Potter, has kept up his dark wizard image on screen recently as Dr. Heinreich Volmer in the psycho thriller, A Cure for Wellness and the villainous scientist, Dr. Hunter Hap in the Netflix Series The OA. This week news surfaced of Issacs’ next role as Captain Lorca, commander of the Starship Discovery in the upcoming CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery. Here is the teaser he tweeted the day of the announcement:

Nice chair. Hope it's comfy. pic.twitter.com/xwfdWAmBQW

— Jason Isaacs (@jasonsfolly) March 7, 2017

Along with fellow Potter alumni, Evanna Lynch and James and Oliver Phelps, Isaacs got back to his wizarding roots this week with a visit to Warner Bros Studio Tour London for a preview of  The Forbidden Forest exhibit as also reported by Leaky.

During the launch of the new attraction, Isaacs made these comments to the UK’s Press Association about the Harry Potter saga and its author J.K. Rowling,

“I think that she is a magnificent storyteller who tells stories that are completely contemporary and resonant with the world that we live in. There are things ripped from the headlines, but all through the prism of her amazingly fantastical imagination.”

Asked whether the divide between good and evil in the stories mirrored the current political climate, he added,

“It’s easy to say that it’s about the rise of the right all over the world and the anti-immigration thing – certainly when it comes to Malfoy and the Death Eaters – but it also seems to be about the rise of fascism in the 1940s.”I’m sure there will never be times when what she has written isn’t relevant.”

In addition to Isaacs’ upcoming visit to Kansas City, there have been other instances of a Harry Potter presence in the central U.S recently, when Rowling lent her voice to two situations in the area, both of which made international news. The first involved a group of Muslims that raised funds to repair a vandalized Jewish cemetery in St, Louis, Missouri. Their effort was enhanced exponentially by Rowling’s support via Twitter:  

This is such a beautiful thing.https://t.co/grBbo1hetz

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) February 21, 2017

Rowling also made note of the heroism shown by victim Ian Grillot below during the recent shooting of two Indian men in an Olathe, Kansas restaurant, which is currently under investigation by the FBI as a possible hate crime:

'I did what was right': Ian Grillot was shot as he jumped to the defence of two Indian men in a bar in Kansas, USA https://t.co/ZVpOaoTbTA pic.twitter.com/CqCncUFXFz

— ITV News (@itvnews) February 25, 2017

Congratulations to Jason Isaacs on his new command of the Starship Discovery, an added bonus for Planet Comicon Kansas City attendees!

Planet Comicon Kansas City was first held in 1999 and had an attendance of more than 70,000 people at last year’s convention. Tickets for the event can be purchased here.