After two years away, MCM Comic Con finally returned to London, and long before the doors opened, the excitement was palpable. The queuing system, complete with proof of vaccination checks (after which attendees were given a wristband), as well as the security checks and ticket collection (for those who didn’t have theirs posted out) ran surprisingly smoothly despite the mass influx of people, and in what felt like no time at all, I found myself inside the ExCel, almost instantly recognising the booth/stage/area layout from two years prior.

Three of the first people I met as I made my way down the long hallway were dinosaurs George, Emily and Morgan (insert your own ready for a “roaring” good time joke here) before, as an avid collector of keychains, I found myself drawn to the Bunny’s Beads stand, run by two lovely ladies, Bunny and Ann, and the ones they had on display. Especially given who was the number 1 guest at this event (a certain Mr. Tom Hiddleston), I just had to get the Loki one.

From there I came across Zemo, Batman and Steve Rogers, and while I’ve been drawn as a few things before – various caricatures of sorts – I’d never been drawn as a sloth until I was so courtesy of Shane Melisse.

One of the things I love so much about attending conventions like this is discovering artists and creators I didn’t know about. One in particular, James Mulligan, really caught my eye and taking a look at his artwork, I’m sure you’ll see why.

I found myself drawn to the stand/table for independent comics writer and creator Neil Gibson, best known for his Twisted Dark series. Now I confess I can’t call myself a fan of comics or comic books, but the title alone was enough to intrigue me. Having picked up book 1, the young man behind the table asked me if I knew about the Twisted Dark challenge – I didn’t. “Ooh okay,” he said. “The challenge is – read the first story, and then read the second. If you can walk away without buying it, then you pass.” I proceeded to read the first story. “Dark” was all he said, to which I agreed. I read the second, and I couldn’t resist buying it, explaining to him that I have a strong personal interest in the importance of mental health in all its forms (you’ll understand what I mean and why I said that if you’ve read any of the series) and that I was covering this event for PopWrapped. “Neil will sign it for you as well if you like”, the young man behind the table said, just as the man himself appeared at my side. “If you’d like to run an interview or something about the series or my work, I’d be happy to do that,” Neil said as he signed my copy then handed me his business card.

I then met a Joker and a short time after that, a Harley Quinn on my way to watch the Gabriel Luna spotlight panel taking place on the Main Stage, and which was hosted by CJ Allan.

Gabriel was “very happy to be here” adding, “I love this town.” About being back with the fans and getting to interact with them again after so long, he called himself a “big hugger guy”, but added that he didn’t quite understand the whole ‘elbow’ thing. Asked about how it feels to be back in London and what he’d been up to while here, he shared his view that “Forbidden Planet in London is the best shop” and that he’d been to see Hamlet the other night.

The next big project for Gabriel is the adaptation of the hugely popular game The Last Of Us, about which he had this to say: “The game itself is massive – it has a massive following…the story is just brilliant, and I was so surprised when I got the part.” He went onto praise the creative team behind the show, calling them “extraordinary”, giving special mentions to two people: “Craig Mazin is our showrunner; he won an Emmy for Chernobyl and Carolyn Strauss is our executive producer; she was an EP on Game of Thrones…”

He can’t and couldn’t speak highly enough of his TLOU co-star Pedro Pascal, even though the two of them got a light smack on the wrist for something they did prior to starting shooting. “Pedro’s a really fun guy – he loves to take photos and document everything, so we just popped off a few photos of us in the car and threw them up online,” he explained. “Because none of us were in costume, none of the looks had been finalised…but then like wildfire, it went all around the world…”

He happily geeked out over his love of Star Wars for several minutes, before the conversation moved onto the other big franchise he’s been a part of – Terminator. “One of the first Rated-R films I saw was Terminator 2, I was 12 years old,” he shared of his first experience with/of the films. “It’s been embedded in my mind my entire life…when I ended up getting the part, it was just important to me to honour Arnold and honour Robert (Patrick), and my character was very much a hybrid of those two…” He proceeded to deliver three pretty good impersonations of Arnold Schwarzenegger, as he talked about training with him for the film: “They say people need 8 hours of sleep. To those people I say – sleep faster.” “Do it, do it now. What are you doing? What are you waiting for?” The third came during the recollection of a story involving Gabriel’s wife who was talking to one of Arnold’s buddies, who talking about his father. She asked him what his father did, in response to which Arnold piped up: “Who is your Daddy and what did he do?” (from Kindergarten Cop).

There had been talk for some time of a potential Ghost Rider spin-off, that now appears to have been put on the back burner. Of his time playing the character, Gabriel said: “I feel very happy and it feels very complete. Even though we greenlit the show, it was going to happen…there were elements of the creative that I was, truth be told I was a bit concerned about, so I would rather there not be a show if it wasn’t going to be what I knew – the best version could be.”

My personal highlight from the panel was this comment Gabriel made about how he approaches roles, and what projects he chooses to take on. “I believe in myself in a certain way. I believe my skill set and what I bring to a project…it’s been important to me to realise the power of the word ‘no’…I’ve been patient knowing that what’s mine is mine and no-one else’s, and what I’m meant to be will come to be if I just prepare the way that I need to prepare and deliver excellence when given the opportunity.” He went on to add that: “I think it’s an important lesson for anyone is, if you believe it strongly enough and you try to assemble a team that has the same vision, the same belief, and you don’t settle for less than you and your team, the work that you’ve put in, deserve…that’s some of the criteria to eventually be available when these really great opportunities come and to not be tied to do things that you really – that really aren’t fulfilling…”

I remained at the Main Stage, just moving seats to get a more central position, for the panel with The Last Kingdom’s Harry McEntire, hosted by Claire Lim. She asked how he was finding the weekend so far, to which he replied: “Just being somewhere other than my living room is, my God, such a treat!” He revealed that he and his now wife got married a couple of months ago, but also that they also did so a year ago – the pandemic affected their ‘big’ wedding plans, so they signed the forms, got married and had the big gathering more recently.

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Asked about how it is meeting the fans and if there are any particular things fans say to him, he said: “The cool thing about our show is, because it’s on Netflix, you don’t get viewing figures, and you don’t get box office, and so you don’t really have this particular sense that anybody’s watching the show – you kind of have no idea unless you’re out in the world and people ae going: “Oh are you from that show?”…and then when you have a year and a half where you don’t leave your house, no-one’s bumping into you and saying: “Are you from that show?’ just finding that people have enjoyed the show and watched it…the nicest thing people say is either: “Oh you’re nothing like your character” or “I hated your character.” I’m equally content with either of those things…the worst thing I think you can be is boring when you’re playing a character…”

Recalling some of the best pieces of advice he’s been given, he shared: “I remember my first ever job when I was 17, I was working with Imelda Staunton, and I had to be ashamed. So, I was 17, so I put my head down, like this, and she came up to me and said: “You know on camera that doesn’t work. A soon as we lose your eyes, the shot’s dead. So instead of denoting shame by dropping your head, denote shame by dropping your eyes and we’ll get exactly the same thing, but the shot doesn’t die.” That’s a great tip.”

Claire brought up an interview in which he mentioned, as a teenager, that he knew this (acting) was what he wanted to do, and describing exactly how he knew that, Harry explained: “I think bloody mindedness really. I mean I think you like stick your flag in something and if someone tells me I can’t do it, it’s just going to strengthen my resolve to do it…when I was younger I had a real like sense of my own potential to be exceptional…I still have a pretty solid level of self-belief…”

Harry’s more recent and new projects were the next topic of conversation, and he mentioned that he’s been getting more into voice work. “I did the Assassins Creed – I did Valhalla, and a couple of other games which I can’t say anything about, and I also started doing, during lockdown, I did a lot of dubbing of shows into English. I need all those things; I need all those different stimuli, different things to work on and things to do.” It turns out Harry’s quite hands on and practical too and showcased said practicality during lockdown. “My uncle is a painter and decorator; and he had trained me…” he explained. “So I just painted a load of houses…I hated it, it was awful. I got more nervous painting someone’s house than I’ve ever, ever gotten on stage.”

Remembering his reaction when he got the call for The Last Kingdom, he admitted: “I cried. Because I was 24 when I got the job, and I’d led this kind of charmed life in my acting career that from 18 to 24, I was never really out of work, which is insane…I always knew I had a job to go to…I finished a play and then there was nothing. And I really freaked out. It was only for like three or four months, which now is laughable but at the time was the longest I’d ever been out of work.” As to what drew him to the role, and the show, despite not knowing the books, he added: “I love history; I’m a big Lord of The Rings fan, so I know this doesn’t have those fantastical elements, but anything with kind of horses and swords, I’m in…projects like this come around very, very rarely, and characters like this come around even less frequently, and I just wanted to make the most of it. I just wanted to enjoy it.”

I got the chance to ask Harry a question (I was in fact the only person who seized said opportunity), so I enquired, mentioning how he’d said earlier that he didn’t like to do the same thing twice, what was and is left for him to do and what his dream role would be, and I also asked what advice he’d give to anyone wanting to follow a path such as his. His answer: “Thank you. I think in terms of thing I haven’t done, I really am loving doing voice work. I would love to do animation; I’ve never worked in animation. I’ve been doing computer games and that’s been probably the most challenging and rewarding thing I’ve done in my career so far. I would also like to try and make something; maybe not visual – maybe audio. l’d like to – I play a lot of Dungeons and Dragons, and I would really, really love to do something with D&D one day; maybe a podcast or like a Twitch style kind of campaign.”

After a slight pause, he continued: “In terms of following in a career path; it’s a really, really good question and it’s an incredibly difficult one to answer because, unlike so many other endeavours, there is no coherent formula that will lead you to a destination. If I knew how to be really successful, I’d be more successful – do you know what I mean? And so each time you finish a job, there is no guarantee that that won’t be your last job ever. So, the way I got into acting was, at sevent- sixteen; I did an amateur production of Titus Andronicus in a hut in a car park of a swimming pool, and two ladies who used to teach me Saturday morning singing and dancing when I was five, came to see the show and had recently bought a small agency and said: “Would you like us to represent you?” That is completely unrepeatable – do you know what I mean? You can’t go through and follow those steps but what I would say is: if someone has a desire to, you know, work in any kind of creative field, but particularly acting, there are two things that I think are really, really important. One is self-care and being kind to yourself and empathetic to yourself, and recognising that failures or hurdles or disappointments are not a rejection of you as a human, they’re just a rejection of your work in that moment, and that was something that took me really, really long time to figure out. That, if someone; if I do my best and work really hard, and I go in and I still don’t get the job, it’s not because they think I’m fundamentally worthless, it’s just because I was too short, or my eyes were the wrong colour, or I wasn’t pretty enough, or I wasn’t ugly enough, or I wasn’t, you know; it’s not down to me. It’s not a rejection of my soul; it’s just a rejection of my work in that moment.”

As for the advice he’d give to aspiring actors: “The best advice I can give to people is either do some kind of formal training if you want to, or make your own stuff. If you’ve got friends; and if you’ve got a decent camera or if you’ve got jjust a decent phone, and you wanna get some basic editing software and you wanna like – me and my mate, he was at uni. I used to get the train to Bath, and we used to make terrible music videos to like “My Body Is A Cage” by Arcade Fire and like woeful versions of “Creep” – they were terrible; I mean they were really, objectively awful, and then just kept making them, and then one time, we made a short about vlogging, and got it to the London Short Festival. Nothing else came of it, but that was just a case of going ‘You know what? We’re just gonna make something; we’re gonna do it, we’re gonna try and do it and learn through doing.’ I didn’t train, so whilst I referenced training as an option, I’m a big advocate of just finding a situation in which you can do what you love and, if you can continue to maintain kindness to yourself throughout that process, and try to grow in a consistent way, then that’s the best advice I can give really.”

Having mentioned D&D in his answer to my question, Claire queried how he first got into it, asking: “Would you say you’re a big nerd?” He replied that: “I’m a nerd in some senses…I love D&D; I REALLY genuinely love D& D – it’s one of the great pleasures in my life…” He admitted to having only ever seen Deadpool and Ant Man, but no other MCU films. He then got rather honest and personal with his next comments. “The real answer with D&D, which may be going a bit deep, is…I had a period of depression for a couple of years and I didn’t realise I was having a tough time. Though a kind of circuitous route, I found a D&D podcast and I realised that the best bit of my day was, on my way to rehearsals, I would listen to a D&D podcast for an hour, and then I’d listen to it on the way back, and it helped me get out of this rut I was in, this hole that I was in.”

He went on: “It continued to be something that was useful for me…and then I spoke to my wife, spoke to my family and I went and got some help…there were lots and lots of things that helped me get better, and I’m in a really, really good place now, I’m much happier…but one of the things that really helped me was I started writing a D&D campaign and the reason it helped me was; it was really creative, it was really immersive. It helped me – it forced me to be social at a time when all I wanted to do was like close myself off from the world…it helped me to learn that creativity doesn’t need to be perfect…I DM two campaigns, I play in another; I play like three times a month, I’m playing here on Sunday, which is genuinely the most exciting thing ever – like I’m SO stoked…it was genuinely like a really fundamental part of me getting well again. I am mentally grateful for it.”

The final big event of the day was a sing-along to Rocky Horror Picture Show. I’ve never seen the film (bad me, I know!) and due to other commitments, I couldn’t participate, however judging by the mass of people I saw watching when I peeked my head through the curtain, I have no doubt it was a hugely enjoyable few hours and a great way to end day 1.

Saturday was, for many, myself included, Tom Hiddleston day. Walking into the venue again, I first came across R2-D2, then met Wanda and Vision, AKA Alice and Niamh. Booked for a 10.30am photo op, my friend Paula and I collected our ‘proof of vaccination’ wristbands in good time and queued up. We were joined by Evie, cosplaying as Sylvie from Loki, and her friend Lexi who was wearing some brilliant Infinity Gauntlet style hand and wrist jewellery.

The staff running Tom’s queues were very efficient, and despite a delay in starting (about 15 mins), everyone was too excited to mind. As for my own experience: I removed my mask when instructed by a team member, walked over to Tom (plexiglass between us) and said “Hello, how are you?” He replied: “I’m well, thank you”, and leaned his left elbow against the glass, as I did the same with my right. Click. I expressed my thanks and headed out to collect my pic.

I’d never seen con photos printed with small barcodes on the bottom before, but I soon saw the benefit of having them – it enabled those running the photo ops to ensure all those who booked and had one collected their pics. While I liked (okay, rather love now) my photo, imo the Tom photo of the day, and I may be a tad biased here, however had to go to my friend Paula. After she shared hers on her Twitter, she quickly racked up more than 2.7K likes and was RT’d by MCMComicCon themselves and featured on their IG story.

Photos in hand and with smiles on faces, although there was still a good hour and a half to go before it started, but heeding the advice of MCM, we and many other fans headed to the absolutely massive ICC auditorium ready for the Loki panel at 12.30 – Paula and I were lucky enough to get front row seats. The pre-panel entertainment was provided by a guy named Elliott who was brilliant; down-to-earth, funny, engaging and had a decidedly eclectic playlist.

He decided it was close enough to the festive season to play “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey, which saw the room turn into a sea of swaying lights, closely followed by Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.”, then he tested everyone’s karaoke skills via “Keep On Movin’” by 5ive and “Barbie Girl” by Aqua before having the masses up on our feet to sing “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” complete with the actions. With time ticking down to the start of the panel, he called for 8 people to join him on stage, paired them off and made them face each other in a ‘pose’ contest, with the audience getting to decide the winner with the volume of their cheers. The eventual winner, cosplaying as Black Widow, was a professional figure skater and walked away with an exclusive MCM Loki t-shirt.

Winding down his time on stage, he introduced the moderator of the panel, Claire Lim, who walked on to a large round of applause and who expressed her appreciation at not only being back at a con, but being with everyone.

It was then time for her to announce and bring out the guests, and with every name she called out, the cheers and applause got louder and louder. Jonathan was first and he took the seat on the far left of the stage, followed by Sophia, who sat on the cushioned seat in the middle, and finally Tom. Here’s a short, yet detailed summary of the hour-long panel. All three of them were more than happy to be in the company of the fans again after so long with Tom saying that: “It feels absolutely fantastic”, Sophia called it “beautiful” and Jonathan referred to the experience as “wild.”

Claire asked Tom, in terms of playing Loki in the series, what he wanted to bring to the character that was a bit different and whether he approached it differently. He replied by saying that Loki is: “…such a complex character with so many complexities and contradictions. And, the longer I play him I feel an increasing responsibility to deliver a character that everybody loves, but also a, a curiosity about finding new facets every time. And the most thrilling aspect was, was actually taking Loki away from everything that was familiar to him. Taking him away from Asgard, taking him away from his family and his brother, and his father, and his mother and, and seeing – challenging him profoundly with the TVA, and with his own story, and with many different aspects of himself, and I found that a really terrific starting point.”

Sophia admitted that she “wasn’t a huge fan” of the MCU prior to joining the cast of Loki, while Jonathan thought himself as a fan from the start, but that: “…I knew I was a fan when I saw Tom Hiddleston on set for the first time. I went: “Yeah, I’m a fan.” Or no – in the trailer. I walked into the trailer and there he was and I went *squee sort of noise*” – hearing him practically squeal like a fangirl got a good laugh from everyone.

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Imposter syndrome was brought up (all three admitted to struggling with it) and Jonathan shared his advice for dealing with it: “…double down on that feeling inside of you and double down on that – that objective, that goal, that action… when you feel that imposter syndrome, that’s probably a good sign because this is it. It’s on. You’re about to excel – you’re about to jump on the table, it’s about to get busy, you know what I mean? So congratulations, because you’re about to ‘kaboom.’”

Tom has always been someone who has shared words and advice that touch and resonate with people. During the panel, following on from comments by Jonathan and Sophia, he gave this advice to those wanting to follow in his and his co-stars’ footsteps, but which can also apply to any and everyone: “There is no one on this Earth who is like you; you are the only person who can do what you do, who has lived your life, has internalized to our experience, and that song in your heart, belongs to you, and you alone. And, and hold that very dear because it’s precious and every voice is worth hearing. So, whatever story you have, whatever you want to say. Keep it close and, and hold it dear and stay true and you’ll be fine.”

Any good host of an MCU related panel will never not jump at the opportunity to at least try and get a teaser from their guests about what’s to come, and Claire was no different. What usually doesn’t happen, as did in this case, was that Jonathan, Sophia and Tom all responded – by pretending to talk/mouth words and by using exaggerated gestures, resulting in laughter echoing around the room, while Back to the Future fans everywhere will be pleased to know/learn that all three guests chose the film (Jonathan and Sophia part 1, Tom part 2) as the best time travel movie. The panel ended with a huge group photo.

A short while later, I found myself among one of the first in line, alongside Paula, for Tom’s afternoon autograph session. While we were queuing, word got around that Tom had made a surprise appearance at the Loki Cosplay photo op.

As for the autograph session itself, I wasn’t expecting Tom to personalise autographs as in the past I’ve seen staff assisting other guests write names down on post-it notes and stick them on items to be signed only for said post-its to be pulled off by other staff and binned. However with Tom, I was left very happy indeed. After he was passed my copy of The Night Manager, he said: “I take it you’d like it signing in black ink?” to which I replied: “Yes please.” I then explained to him that the comments he’d made in the panel earlier about following your passion really resonated with me as I’ve spent 10+ years working towards a career in journalism & this weekend (I held up the lanyard around my neck) I earned/was given my first ‘full event’ press pass. Tom smiled, said “Congratulations”, and we shared an ‘against the plexiglass’ elbow tap. As he signed the book, he said, speaking very highly and fondly of Le Carre, that he’d been at a memorial for him recently and I replied that I loved his work. As he passed me the book and I expressed my thanks, he said: “Good luck with everything.”

Sunday, the final day of the con, was, for me (in the morning at least) pretty chilled, and I met cosplayer Courtney after grabbing a much-needed hot chocolate.

With Paula and our new friend Louise queuing for another photo with Tom (see both below), I took a seat at the Live Stage ready for the ‘Women In Pop Culture’ panel later in the morning and scribbled down a few notes that are helping to make this piece. While I was there, Claire Lim took a seat on the stage for a while (likely prepping for her next hosting gig) and just before she headed off, I stood and introduced myself. I had posted a tweet yesterday about the Loki panel which I said she ‘brilliantly hosted’ and she said to me: “I thought I recognised you from Twitter.” We had a brief chat and I told her I’d be interviewing some of the weekends’ guests later. When I mentioned Harry McEntire, she gave me a tip as to something I could ask about.

The Women In Pop Culture panel featured Empire Magazine’s editor-at-large Helen O’Hara, author of The Books of Ambha duology (‘Empire of Sand’ and ‘Realm of Ash’) and the epic fantasy ‘The Jasmine Throne’, Tasha Suri, ’The Unbroken’ author C.L. Clark and ‘Winter’s Orbit’ writer Everina Maxwell. Helen referred to herself as: “the odd one out of the group because I haven’t written an amazing piece of fiction”, though her fellow panelists pointed out that, in the words of Tasha Suri, “…you are the one that knows the most about women in pop culture.”

The first topic of conversation was icons of women in pop culture. Helen’s choice was Princess Leia, saying: “…just seeing her kick ass basically, and take names from all the men was really inspiring. Also, Linda Carter’s Wonder Woman…” C.L. chose Xena, Warrior Princess. “There was something really special to see a lead woman who was regularly like kicking ass,” she explained. “That was really important to me I think.” Everina meanwhile shared that she was more influenced and inspired: “by things like anime; I was very into Sailor Moon in a very intense way…I think it’s quite interesting that all the female characters that we’re talking about…are quite feminine figures, but also very, very powerful.”

Next was a discussion on representation of women on screen; TV and film. “I think that a lot of TV shows, even ones that are marketed largely at women – I’m thinking of Supernatural for example, give their male characters emotion and depth, and they don’t do that to their female characters,” said Tasha. “With a few exceptions…we’re meant to look at them from the outside, and then they die – often.” She pointed out how Xena was: “…in every way, the kind of like, big hero dude in a science-fiction or fantasy who made mistakes and is trying to find redemption and goes through loads of trauma – and she was a woman, and we could relate to that. I think that’s why Buffy worked really well as well, and why people were like really attached to Faith. She was again like that tragic male character, but she was a woman…”

Offering the opportunity for audience members to ask questions, the panelists were grilled on whether they wanted to see more female villains in TV and film, in response to which Helen shared: “….I know a specific example of why that doesn’t happen. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe…there was a guy who used to be very, very senior – not Kevin Feige – who just didn’t approve of female villains, and so we could have had a female villain in, I don’t know, Winter Soldier or something, and no…You get specific executives who just don’t think that works…” Everina addressed more the way females in general are portrayed and represented on screen, saying: “…let one single female main character on TV without mascara…even if they’re post-apocalyptic, they are still wearing make-up.” Tasha added on: “…I know it’s been optioned for television but I really want ‘Jade City’ by Fonda Lee to become a TV show, because the female antagonist in that is not described as, you know fem – or like, even attractive…and I think it would be really interesting to have a character like that on television.”

I queried as to where they see the representation and portrayal of women going in the future, and whether we’ll see genuine equality in the arts and media. “In some areas, we’re way behind,” Helen commented. “In terms of gender parity, for film directors – even worse, cinematographers or composers is dreadful – there’s a hugely long way to go there and it’s going to take decades at least. In terms of on-screen, I think things are already changing. I think TV and books have already shown the way and showed there is a massive market for stories about female characters.” She shared the example that: “Wonder Woman 2017 was SO important…that out-grossed Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice…Wonder Woman made more money than Justice League. That is massive; no one saw that coming, and that fundamentally destroyed a bunch of myths about what people would go and watch on screen…” C.L. added that: “…female creators in all of the creative industries, they have an obstacle to get over, and unfortunately that obstacle is men, so that question is actually not so much for us, but for the men in these industries. If they are willing to let things go – because they have; for all intents and purposes, they have the money, they have the positions…those are the people that are going to decide, unfortunately, whether or not we ever do get any kind of gender parity at all.”

After lunch, I found myself lucky enough to have been invited to three press ‘round table’ style interview sessions with Harry McEntire, Gabriel Luna and Nicole Tompkins. My question for Harry was this: “The Last Kingdom’s books and subsequent series have proven to be a huge success, following on from the likes of Game Of Thrones, but which book or series of books would you like to see adapted for the screen?” His answer: “I would like to see Brandon Sanderson’s ‘Mistborn’ series adapted. I don’t know if anyone’s familiar with those, but like – they’re one of the first fantasy things that I ever read, and I kind of got into them, really got into them, in the last year. I think he’s a really great writer and he creates this really cool world. His characters are really flawed and really interesting. He’s come up with this – the guy’s a genius; he comes up with all these magic systems and this different stuff, and I think it would just be; that trilogy would be amazing; the ‘Mistborn’ books. I know he’s got other stuff like ‘The Stormlight Archive’ and then he finished writing – he ended up finishing writing ‘Wheel of Time’ so essentially he’s kind of being adapted already, but it would be really cool to see one of his series.” With a laugh, he added: “I had no idea I would have that good an answer!” and I said I’d have to go and read those books now.

When the floor was opened to/for questions, I decided to go with the one about a topic Claire Lim had suggested to me earlier in the day, so I asked him: “You mentioned how much you love D&D in your panel on Friday and how it helps you and your mental health. What is it about that game in particular that helps and has a positive impact on your life?” He replied by explaining that: “I think for me, when I came to D&D, I was off the back of quite a bad; not having a great time mentally, and all that sort of stuff, and what I needed I think was a few things. I needed – it’s incredible for escapism and for allowing people to get out of the reality of something they’ve been struggling with. And the other thing, from my point of view is, I DM a campaign, so I run the campaign and – it forced me to be creative and intuitive, but always in the service of somebody else. It wasn’t like a lesson in ego; it wasn’t an exercise in ego, instead it was going: ‘How can I give everybody else the best possible time I can give them? How can I use my creativity to make me more sociable, and to put it, as I said, in the service of someone else?’”

He went on: “The great thing about D&D, and about that kind of creativity is you can’t get attached to the idea of perfection, because if you write a perfect story, your players can’t exist in it – they have no agency; you have to be able to let them drive the narrative, and if they’re driving the narrative, you can’t write the perfect narrative, ‘cos then they’d just sit there and listen to you read stuff off your laptop. And so for me; I know people who use D&D as like a form of therapy, who work with kind of kids, and who help kids who maybe come from difficult backgrounds, to kind of understand their emotions a little bit better through kind of imaginative roleplaying like that; I think it’s of huge value. And I also think it’s like, just the most fun, for me. I’m playing in like an hour and I’m so stoked – I’m SO stoked about that; I can’t tell you.”

He was also asked whether he’d agree right now is the best time to be an artist, taking into account the many art forms and styles that are open and available to them. “I absolutely do,” he said with a nod of his head. “What I view as the key to a successful career is diversification…I started out doing stage, and then I started working on TV, I was doing radio in between that – and now I’m trying to make that move into doing more voice work…if I was a painter, I wouldn’t want to just do landscapes every day for the next sixty years; I’d want to be trying to expand my horizons and challenge myself. I love finding things difficult. I love getting into the booth or on set and going: ‘I actually don’t know how I’m going to make this happen…’…I think it’s a way to a more lasting career and I think it’s the way to a more nourishing one.”

Harry left to return to the show floor, and a few minutes later, we were joined by Gabriel Luna. I asked him: “While there is, quite rightly, a lot of hype around The Last Of Us, you also have a project in post-production, Eddie and Sunny, based on the book by Stacey Cochran. How does that project differ from the many others you’ve done and have you read the book yet?” He responded by saying: “It’s a great text. Stacey does such a great job; it differs – you know what? I was adamant about finding something where I just played a guy – a human guy with a problem. You know, who encounters obstacles and just has a healthy fear of death, you know, ‘cos Ghost Rider doesn’t have any of that; Terminator definitely doesn’t have any of that. I just wanted to play a man with a family who just has human problems.”

As for how he got involved, he went on to explain: “My team sent me the script; I read it and I liked it, and they offered me the role and I was happy to take it. I accepted it in November of 2019, and they were working, pre-production, and we were about to go in March, and of course, the world stopped. And, Italy at that time – we were gonna shoot in Rome and originally Belize was the other location, but at the time, Italy was the hotspot; like that was the epicentre of Covid. So we were like: ‘We’re not going to Italy to shoot, we’ve gotta figure out what’s going to happen with the world.’ And as time progressed, Los Angeles became the epicentre of Covid, and Italy didn’t want us over there…but, we finally figured it out – I got my work visa and we did a month and a half shoot in Rome and a months’ shoot in Guatemala; that’s eventually where we landed as the other location.”

He added: “I just got a cut of the film; I think they’re still finalising some stuff. We’ve held it for a long time just ‘cos most festivals were virtual and we want people to have a full experience with the film and get it to buyers in a way that makes it the most appealing. It’s a great story. Joanna Vanderham, a wonderful Scottish actress plays my wife in the film – she’s actually doing a show right now with Ian – another beautiful Scot that I love, who played Fitz in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, but – I don’t rally have a timeline on that film, but it’s close to my heart, it’s a beautiful story about family and I hope people get to see it.”

Gabriel was then asked how he feels about the recent influx of Latino actors getting opportunities and appearing in big series and films such as Cobra Kai and The Suicide Squad. “I think there’s still a lot of progress to be made,” he replied. “But what I hope to do is deliver excellence when given the opportunity – that’s a quote from Robert Rodriguez’s ‘Rebel Without A Crew.’…the hope is that when I get there, I work my tail off man; I bring that work ethic to the work in hopes that I nail it, that people are proud of it; the producers are happy, everybody’s happy, the director’s happy, and as a result, the door stays open for everyone to come up behind it…it just takes somebody to keep passing the baton, keep it going…”

After the interview, Gabriel was kind enough to take photos with a few of us, myself included, and he said to me post pic, addressing how I’d shared some of the advice he gave in his panel on Friday: “I think I saw you on Twitter saying some very nice things about me – appreciate it.”

At the final session, with Nicole Tompkins, I enquired, given that she’s best known for her voice work in the games Resident Evil 3 and Resident Evil Village: “Would you be interested in auditioning for a role – even the lead role – were they to reboot the film franchise a few years down the line?” Excitedly, she responded with: “Oh my gosh, absolutely!”, adding: “I think that would be super fun. I’ve done a decent amount of film and TV and I hope to do much, much more. But it’s been really fun seeing them do the casting processes for the new movie that’s coming out – I’m excited to see it. I’m always open to it; but that’s just because I love doing this job, so usually the answer is ‘yes.’”

She was asked if she’d had any fun moments when making the games. “So many,” she said with a smile. “And, maybe this is not always the case, but anytime you’re working on something dark and dramatic and gritty like – it all feels dark and dramatic and gritty when you see the final product…but on the set, it’s a bunch of people pretending like there’s something terrifying, and really it’s just silent. So it’s a lot of humour – especially in performance capture…”

What does she do to ground herself after a setback? “Especially with acting, you know, we’re so passionate about telling stories about bringing other characters and people to life, and just taking time to like, actually have a life outside of that character performance is so important – you know, just being human. You have things you go back to and that are important to you…I think just remembering that, you know, we’re human, so if there’s an emotional setback; take a break, you know, you’ll find other ways to express yourself when you need to. And I’m truly a believer that you’ll always end back up on the projects you’re supposed to be on for some reason or another.”

I then got to ask her a second question, so, reflecting on her previous answer about doing more TV and film work, I queried as to the sort of project she’d most like to do. “I’d be open to a lot, although I am pretty inspired by new IP,” she admitted. “I think it’s really, really fun when we get new IP, or even IP from comics that hasn’t been seen before or, you know, graphic novels and books that can be turned into film. I love that world; so, always, always down for; obviously an amazing, like, existing franchise, but I think new IP’s especially exciting because it’s always a risk and for the people involved it’s a risk: because you don’t know going in if it will be well received, and I think you come in with a lot of humility when that’s the case, and a lot of like: ‘Great, let’s just throw our best creative effort at this.’ I like that energy a lot; it’s really freeing too – the expectations are different, like, no one knows what to expect for this.”

With the interviews over, so was my time at MCM Comic Con London 2021. Over the course of the three days, I met so many great people, made new friends and my photo and personalised autograph from Tom Hiddleston will keep me smiling for a VERY long time.

I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who helped make MCM Comic Con London 2021 happen – from all the staff at MCM and Reed Pop, to all the stewards and other helpers, and of course, to all the guests who dedicated so much of their time to giving thousands of fans so many memories to cherish and a weekend to remember. Here’s to next time!