SALT LAKE CITY — FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention had its first round of guest announcements for this year’s convention. Topping the list of celebrities is none other than William Shatner, the famous actor turned recent space explorer, who was a fan favorite at FanX 2016 and now will be welcomed back for FanX 2022 this September. 

FanX founder and producer, Dan Farr, discussed the newly announced guests with KSL Newsradio’s Andy Farnsworth on the latest episode of the Fan Effect podcast. Together they discussed the success of the 2021 convention after the covid induced postponement of the 2020 event, tips and tricks for making the most out of this year’s convention, and of course the newly announced guests. 

The 10 announced guests for FanX 2022! 

• William Shatner
  • William Shatner is probably the biggest celebrity on this list and is the only one who has been to space and back. Shatner is best known for his role as Star Trek’s original Captain James T. Kirk, a character that has earned audiences’ adoration since his debut in 1965. Shatner has become a familiar face on screens big and small from “The Twilight Zone,” “Star Trek,” “The Practice,” and more. Outside of acting, he is an accomplished musician with eight “spoken lyric” albums. He also has the distinction of being the oldest person to have ever been to space! In 2021, at the age of 90, he boarded the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket for a brief suborbital joyride. 

• Giancarlo Esposito
  • Giancarlo Esposito is an award-winning actor and producer best known for portraying Gus Fring in “Breaking Bad” and its prequel series “Better Call Saul.”  Star Wars fans will also recognize him as the villainous Moff Gideon from the DisneyPlus series “The Mandalorian.” And gamers out there know him as the voice of Antón Castillo, the big bad guy in the “Far Cry 6“ video game.
• Rachel Skarsten
  • Canadian actress Rachel Skarsten is best known for her role as Black Canary on the television short-lived series “Birds of Prey.“Currently,  she has taken on the mantel of  Wonderland or Alice in another DC comics-based series, “Batwoman.” 
• Tara Strong
  • Voice actress Tara Strong has been a renowned performer for generations of animation fans. Even if you don’t recognize her name you might recognize her voice in the following list of characters she has portrayed, Bubbles in “The Powerpuff Girls,” Dil Pickles in “Rugrats,” Raven in “Teen Titans,” Timmy Turner in “The Fairly OddParents,” Twilight Sparkle in “My Little Pony” and much, much, more.  And don’t forget her most recently debuted and beloved character, Miss Minutes from DisneyPlus’ “Loki” series. 
• Jess Harnell
  • A FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention would just not be complete without voice actor and musician Jess Harnell. He is best known for voicing the wacky character Wakko Warner from both the 90s version and modern iteration of  the “Animaniacs.” Harnell fell in love with Utah at FanX’s early conventions and since then has practically become the celebrity ambassador, or mascot, of the event. He is always a popular panelist at the convention, staging a reading of movie scripts with his fellow voice actors reading the different parts in different voices called “Twisted Toonz,” and performing outside of the event at local venues with his band “Rock Sugar.” 
• Nolan North
  • Nolan North is an American voice actor best known for a variety of video game characters. He originated the role of Nathan Drake in the “Uncharted” series (thus his brief cameo in the recent film of the same name.) 
• Dante Basco
  • Actor Dante Basco is best known for his role as the Lost Boys of Neverland leader Rufio in “Hook.” Since that smash-hit, he has continued his life as a performer and producer, and for the younger generation, he is better known as the actor for Prince Zuko in the animated series “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”
• Todd Haberkorn
  • Todd Haberkorn is an American voice actor popular for dubbing in anime and video games. 
• Lindsay Seidel
  • Voice actress  Lindsay Seidel is also well known for dubbing various anime series into English.
• Kyle Hebert
  • Kyle Henry Hebert works as an American voice actor and DJ who works in dubbing anime and video game series.

FanX 2022 is happening September 22-24, 2022 at The Salt Palace Convention Center. Multi-day passes are available for purchase at fanxsaltlake.com in a variety of tiered experiences options. 

Listen to the Fan Effect Podcast for more details

Beyond Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Gaming, and Tech, the brains behind Fan Effect are connoisseurs of categories surpassing the nerdy. Brilliant opinions and commentary on all things geek, but surprising knowledge and witty arguments over pop culture, Star Trek, MARVEL vs DC, and a wide range of movies, TV shows, and more. Formerly known as SLC Fanboys, the show is hosted by Andy Farnsworth and KellieAnn Halvorsen, who are joined by guest experts. Based in the beautiful beehive state, Fan Effect celebrates Utah’s unique fan culture as it has been declared The Nerdiest State in America by TIME.   

Listen regularly on your favorite platform, at kslnewsradio.com, or on the KSL App. Join the conversation on Facebook @FanEffectShow, Instagram @FanEffectShow, and Twitter @FanEffectShow. Fan Effect is sponsored by Megaplex Theatres, Utah’s premiere movie entertainment company.

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