The legendary creator behind Ultima discussed his nearly four-decade connection to Dragon Con, the possibility of returning to the Ultima universe, artificial intelligence in game development, the problems facing modern gaming and how traveling to space fundamentally changed his perspective on Earth.

Garriott’s history with Dragon Con stretches back to the convention’s beginning. He recalled being the computer guest of honor at the first Dragon Con and becoming a fan of the convention through that experience.

Those early conventions also put him in the same rooms as creators who had influenced his career. Garriott recalled meeting Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax, whose work he described as fundamental to his own career. He later met Tracy Hickman at Dragon Con 2, beginning a relationship that eventually grew into collaborations that continue today.

For Garriott, conventions offered something else that was difficult for a game designer to find: direct contact with players. Publishing a game wasn’t like performing live onstage, so meeting players became an important feedback loop. At the same time, Dragon Con gave Garriott the opportunity to simply be a fan alongside everyone else.

A Return to the World of Ultima

One of the biggest subjects of the conversation was the future of Ultima.

Garriott directly addressed reports surrounding his efforts to reclaim copyrights associated with his original work. He said he notified the U.S. Copyright Office and Electronic Arts of his intention to reclaim those copyrights, explaining that the 35-year timeline following the 1992 sale reaches 2027.

“Next year I will own all my original copyrights,” Garriott said.

The situation, however, isn’t as simple as saying Garriott will control everything associated with Ultima. He stressed that copyrights and trademarks are separate, with trademark issues still complicating the situation.

Garriott said negotiations are underway concerning what happens next.

But when asked whether that could eventually mean returning to the series, he didn’t hide his intentions.

“We may return to the world of Ultima. That’s the plan.”

What would a modern Lord British game actually look like?

Garriott’s answer suggests it wouldn’t simply be an old Ultima with better graphics.

Ethics and virtues would again play a role in the story, while the world itself would be built around interaction. Garriott described a philosophy in which objects aren’t simply scenery. If players can see something, they should reasonably expect it to work.

Cups and plates could be picked up, placed somewhere else, filled and used. Even mundane objects should behave as though they belong in a functioning world.

“Everything will be interactive,” Garriott said.

That philosophy extends to the world itself.

Garriott isn’t interested in creating enormous environments simply for the sake of scale. Towns should contain enough buildings to make players believe they’re in a town, but those buildings should have a reason to exist.

He similarly favors carefully handcrafted environments rather than depending entirely on procedural generation. A world that looks natural isn’t necessarily a world that produces a good story.

Exploration is another element Garriott believes modern RPGs sometimes sacrifice in the name of convenience.

Many contemporary games give players a destination marker and sometimes a route leading directly toward it. Garriott sees value in making the player discover that route.

He described the example of traveling between two towns separated by mountains and forest. Instead of following a marker directly to a mountain pass, the player might need to enter the forest, reach the mountain range and search along it until discovering the passage.

That discovery is part of the adventure.

When the game shows the player exactly where to walk, Garriott said, “You’re not really exploring to get there.”

That doesn’t mean he wants to preserve every inconvenience from early computer RPGs. Garriott acknowledged that returning to some older keyboard-driven Ultima games can be extremely difficult today and said modernized versions would need modern interfaces.

The goal would be to remove unnecessary friction without removing discovery.

That experimental approach has been part of Ultima from the beginning.

Garriott recalled how the team behind Ultima Online once attempted to build an actual virtual ecology. Grass provided resources for herbivores, while carnivores hunted the herbivores. If players killed too many deer or sheep, predators could move toward populated areas, potentially attacking villagers and creating quests.

In controlled conditions, Garriott said the system worked beautifully.

Then players arrived.

They killed everything.

Wolves, sheep, deer — virtually anything players could attack disappeared faster than the simulation could compensate. Eventually, the development team removed the entire system.

“We spent, you know, human years on it and it was useless,” Garriott recalled.

Other experiments were far more successful.

Dialogue systems and NPC schedules helped create characters who appeared to live independently of the player. Characters could wake up, go to work, eat and eventually return to bed. Others might secretly leave at night and engage in activities players would only discover by abandoning their normal routine and following them.

Those experiments helped create the kind of living virtual world Garriott still wants to pursue.

AI, AAA Development and the Changing Game Industry

Artificial intelligence could play a role in building that next generation of virtual worlds.

Garriott confirmed that his team is already experimenting with AI as a development and prototyping tool. Rather than spending months committing resources to an idea, developers could potentially test concepts quickly before deciding which direction deserves full production.

That could include fundamental questions such as whether combat should be real-time, turn-based or somewhere between the two.

Garriott isn’t approaching AI without concerns.

“As a human, I’m actually profoundly worried about what the future of humanity is going to be like,” he said while discussing the possibility of AI eventually becoming more intelligent than humans.

He also raised concerns surrounding energy and water consumption, training data and whether creators are being compensated for material used to train AI systems.

Within game development, however, he sees the technology as potentially giving individual creators more direct control.

Garriott remembered a time when he could personally create much of a game. As projects grew, his job became increasingly managerial. Instead of making the map, he became the person setting the vision. Leads worked beneath him, with additional teams beneath those leads.

Eventually, the people actually creating something could be several layers removed from the person who originally envisioned it.

“That’s frankly not fun,” Garriott said.

He also believes it can affect the finished product because what ultimately gets created may no longer feel like the work of the original creator.

AI-assisted tools could potentially reduce that distance.

A designer might create a detailed prototype before handing it to an artist or specialist for the final production work. The idea wouldn’t have to pass through as many layers of interpretation, and smaller teams could test ideas far more quickly.

Garriott believes that could make development less expensive while returning creators closer to the act of creation itself.

Cost is particularly important because Garriott believes the modern game industry is facing serious economic problems.

He compared the current environment to the video game crash of the early 1980s, arguing that the traditional AAA model has become increasingly difficult to sustain as development budgets and production timelines have grown.

He also criticized the industry’s increasing dependence on recurring monetization.

Garriott argued that free-to-play games and similar models can encourage developers to build mechanics around repeated purchases and unpredictable rewards. He compared some of those systems to the psychology behind gambling.

His concern comes down to incentives.

When a developer’s revenue comes primarily from selling the game, Garriott argued, the financial goal is to create something worth purchasing. When revenue depends on keeping players spending after they begin playing, developers have an incentive to encourage behaviors that produce additional transactions.

Garriott believes that difference can ultimately influence the design of the game itself.

From Lord British to the Edge of the World

Garriott’s fascination with exploration isn’t limited to virtual worlds.

His father was an astronaut, while his mother was a naturalist and artist. Garriott credits both with helping develop his curiosity at a young age. His mother would take him into the woods to investigate nature, follow insects and understand how things worked.

That desire to explore eventually took him far beyond the woods — to the North Pole, South Pole, the depths of the ocean and orbital space.

Space in particular changed him.

Garriott described orbiting Earth at roughly 17,000 miles per hour, circling the planet approximately every 90 minutes and watching a sunrise or sunset roughly every 45 minutes.

“You cannot take your eyes off the window,” he said.

Looking down at Earth, Garriott began noticing things that are difficult to comprehend from the ground.

The atmosphere appeared remarkably thin. Freshwater seemed limited. He could see deforestation, wildfires and pollution stretching across enormous areas.

Then he passed over Texas.

Garriott recognized his hometown, familiar roads and places where he had grown up. But after spending days observing the entire planet, those familiar locations suddenly existed within a scale he could directly comprehend.

The realization gave him goosebumps.

Earth went from feeling almost impossibly large to what Garriott described as “extremely finite and deeply interconnected.”

Only afterward did he learn that this shift in perception has a name: the overview effect.

Despite everything he has already accomplished, Garriott isn’t finished exploring.

Shortly before Dragon Con, he returned from Indonesia, where he had been diving around Komodo Island. He saw Komodo dragons for the first time and explored a coral reef that had been affected by a recent earthquake.

There are still places on Earth he wants to explore and others he hopes to revisit with his children.

Beyond that, Garriott wants to leave Earth orbit again.

The Moon and Mars are on his list.

Whether the next adventure is on Earth, in space or inside a virtual world, Garriott said he still has a “very long bucket list.”

And that list now appears to include Ultima once again.

Near the end of the conversation, Garriott revealed that one of the first projects being considered is essentially a return to Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar.

“The first thing we’ll bring back is basically Ultima 4, Quest of the Avatar,” Garriott said, adding that experiments surrounding the project are already underway.

For someone whose career has repeatedly crossed the boundaries between games, technology and exploration, a return to Ultima would bring Garriott back to the world that made Lord British famous.

But if his comments at Dragon Con are any indication, he isn’t interested in simply recreating the past.

He wants to experiment with what comes next.

At the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo in Lakeland, Florida, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman delivered a wide-ranging address that mixed inspiration with a blunt assessment of where the agency is headed. Framed by the excitement of the Artemis program and a new generation of space enthusiasts, Isaacman made it clear that NASA’s next chapter is not just about returning to the Moon but building a sustained human presence beyond Earth.

The presentation opened with a viral moment featuring a young student’s passionate call for space exploration, symbolizing what Isaacman described as the “Artemis Generation.” That energy carried into a recap of Artemis II, which successfully sent astronauts farther into space than ever before, reaching speeds over 24,000 miles per hour before returning safely to Earth.

From there, Isaacman laid out NASA’s near-term vision: frequent missions to the Moon’s south pole, where water ice could support long-term habitation. Beginning as early as 2027, NASA plans a steady cadence of robotic landings to test technologies, deploy rovers, and prepare the groundwork for a permanent lunar base. Unlike the Apollo era, he emphasized, the goal now is permanence—“we’re going back to stay.”

Building Toward the Moon and Mars

Isaacman described the Moon as a proving ground for deeper space exploration, particularly Mars. He suggested that a crewed mission to Mars could realistically occur within the next 10 to 20 years, but only after critical capabilities are developed on the lunar surface. These include in-situ resource manufacturing, nuclear power systems, and new propulsion technology systems that would allow astronauts to travel farther and return safely.

At the same time, NASA is shifting its strategy. Rather than spreading funding across numerous smaller projects, Isaacman said the agency is now focusing on “needle-moving objectives”—large-scale efforts like building a moon base, increasing launch frequency, and advancing deep space propulsion. He acknowledged past inefficiencies, noting that billions had been spent on programs that failed to deliver meaningful outcomes, and stressed that future investments would be more focused and results-driven.

A key part of that shift is increasing launch cadence. Isaacman pointed out that earlier NASA programs routinely launched missions every few months, while recent efforts have been separated by years. The goal now is to return to at least an annual rhythm—and eventually faster—to maintain expertise and accelerate progress.

Audience Questions Highlight Challenges and Opportunities

Following his remarks, Isaacman fielded a series of questions from the audience that highlighted both enthusiasm and concern about NASA’s direction.

One attendee raised concerns about funding for scientific research, particularly studies on how the human body responds to space environments. Isaacman responded by acknowledging the importance of such research but reiterated that NASA must prioritize programs that directly support major exploration goals, such as keeping astronauts healthy for long-duration missions. He emphasized that better allocation of resources would ensure critical science receives proper support.

Another question focused on the future astronaut workforce. Isaacman explained that NASA is moving beyond its traditional reliance on test pilots and is seeking a broader range of expertise. As missions shift toward long-term habitation, the agency will need engineers, medical professionals, software specialists, and scientists which are the same diversity of skills required to sustain remote outposts on Earth.

Questions also touched on technical challenges, including the future of rocket engines and workforce retention. Isaacman addressed concerns about aging systems like the RS-25 engines and emphasized the importance of competition among commercial partners such as SpaceX and Blue Origin to drive innovation and reduce costs. He also outlined efforts to strengthen NASA’s workforce through new hiring programs and closer collaboration with industry.

International cooperation emerged as another theme during the Q&A. Isaacman highlighted contributions from global partners, including Japan’s development of a pressurized lunar rover and Italy’s work on habitation modules. He stressed that while NASA leads the effort, the Artemis program is a collaborative mission for humanity as a whole.

The session concluded with a forward-looking message: NASA is returning to its roots as an active, execution-driven agency, focused on ambitious goals and tangible results. With plans for a lunar base, increased launch frequency, and eventual missions to Mars, Isaacman’s remarks reflected an agency aiming not just to revisit past achievements—but to surpass them.

“This is your NASA,” he told the Lakeland crowd. “We changed the world once. We’re about to do it again.”

Some of the biggest 2026 shows have already happened, but they still matter in a Florida convention roundup because they show just how packed the state’s calendar has become. More importantly, there are still major events ahead, and a few of the newer additions give this list a much better spread across comics, anime, horror, and general pop culture.

That range is the whole point. Florida is not a one-con state. You can hit a free campus anime gathering, a massive Miami Beach fandom weekend, a family-friendly city comic con, a horror convention, or one of Tampa’s biggest anime events depending on what kind of crowd and coverage you want.

FreeCon 22 brought anime and gaming energy to Tallahassee

Dates: April 4 to April 5, 2026
Website: https://tallahasseeanime.com/

FreeCon 22 took over the FSU Student Union in Tallahassee as a free-entry convention built around anime, gaming, and fan community. The 2026 theme was Witches and Magic, which is a pretty clean way to tell people exactly what kind of weekend they were walking into.

According to the event’s official site, FreeCon is celebrating its 22nd year and continues to pitch itself as Tallahassee’s premier anime and gaming convention. That local identity matters. FreeCon feels like the kind of event that keeps fandom accessible instead of making it feel locked behind giant ticket prices and travel costs.

Florida Supercon is still the heavyweight on the summer calendar

Dates: July 10 to July 12, 2026
Website: https://www.floridasupercon.com/

If you want the biggest all-around pop culture play on this list, Florida Supercon is still the one. The Miami Beach show pulls together comics, anime, gaming, wrestling, celebrity guests, voice actors, exhibitors, and creators for a giant summer weekend that tries to cover every corner of fandom at once.

The official site frames it as a full-scale community event where fans can cosplay, connect, shop, and bounce between creator-focused and celebrity-driven programming. For coverage, it is one of the easiest events in the state to work because there are so many angles under one roof.

Tampa Bay Comic Convention keeps comics, cosplay, and celebrity fandom in the mix

Website: https://tampabaycomicconvention.com/

Tampa Bay Comic Convention deserves a place in any Florida convention roundup, even with limited public site access during this pull. It has become one of the region’s more recognizable comic convention brands, with the usual mix of celebrity guests, artists, vendors, fandom shopping, cosplay, and fan meetups that make these events work.

What makes Tampa Bay Comic Convention worth watching is its middle-ground appeal. It has enough scale to feel like a real destination event, but it still carries the kind of regional flavor that can produce better fan stories than the ultra-polished mega-shows. If you want comic-focused convention coverage on the Gulf Coast, this is one to keep on the radar.

METROCON remains one of Florida’s biggest anime conventions

Dates: July 31 to August 2, 2026
Website: https://metroconventions.com/

METROCON bills itself as Florida’s largest anime convention, and the event lineup makes it easy to see why. The official site points to gaming, cosplay contests, panels and workshops, music and dance events, special guests, an exhibit hall, and a full schedule built around a three-day Tampa takeover.

For anime fans, this is one of the big ones. METROCON has the kind of identity that feels distinct from a general comic con. It leans harder into anime culture, cosplay performance, fandom expression, and show-floor energy, which makes it a different beast from the broader pop culture weekends on this list.

Sunshine City Scare adds a horror lane to the Florida event calendar

Website: https://www.sunshinecityscare.com/

Not every fan event in Florida needs to be superhero-heavy or anime-led, and Sunshine City Scare gives the roundup a horror lane. While the site was not fully readable during this pass, the event is built around horror fandom, which instantly makes it stand out from the more mainstream comic and pop culture conventions.

That matters because horror crowds show up differently. The fashion is different, the vendors are different, the cosplay hits a different nerve, and the fan culture tends to feel a little more niche and a little more locked in. For outlets covering Florida’s broader fandom landscape, horror conventions like this help round out the picture.

Anime St. Pete helps keep the local anime scene active on the Gulf Coast

Website: https://animestpete.com/

Anime St. Pete is another smart addition if you want this list to reflect more of the real convention ecosystem in Florida. Even without a clean site pull here, the event’s branding alone tells you what role it plays. It is part of the local anime convention circuit that gives fans a more focused, community-driven alternative to the biggest statewide shows.

That kind of event matters more than people think. Smaller anime gatherings often feel more personal, easier to navigate, and more rooted in local fan scenes. They may not have the same headline power as Florida Supercon or METROCON, but they are often where you find the strongest cosplay community energy and the most dedicated repeat attendees.

Sunrise Comic Con keeps things family-friendly without losing the fan appeal

Date: March 14, 2026
Website: https://www.sunrisefl.gov/comiccon

Sunrise Comic Con is a little different from the huge convention-center model, and that is part of the charm. Hosted at the Sunrise Civic Center, the event bills itself as the largest pop culture festival in west Broward County and mixes guests, artists, authors, panels, demos, cosplay contests, vendors, food, gaming, and tournaments into a one-day event.

That one-day structure makes it easier for families and casual fans who want the convention flavor without the full weekend commitment. Not every event needs to be a three-day marathon to matter.

SUN ‘n FUN is not a comic con, but it still belongs on Florida’s big-event radar

Website: https://flysnf.org/

No, SUN ‘n FUN is not a comic convention. It is an aerospace expo in Lakeland. But it still fits the spirit of a Florida event roundup because it brings the same large-scale, enthusiast-driven, full-day spectacle that convention fans understand immediately.

There is also something very Florida about putting a comic convention guide next to an aviation mega-event. Both pull passionate crowds, both turn hobby culture into community, and both show how broad the state’s event identity really is.

Why Florida keeps working as a convention state

Florida works as a convention state because it never sticks to one template. You have anime events, comic conventions, horror gatherings, city-run festivals, giant fandom weekends, and left-field mega-events like SUN ‘n FUN all sharing the same calendar.

That gives fans options, and options are everything. Some people want celebrity panels and photo ops. Some want a cosplay contest and a vendor floor. Some want anime DJs and dance events. Some want horror merch and spooky niche fandom energy. Florida has room for all of it.

If you are planning future coverage, Florida Supercon and METROCON are probably the biggest upcoming plays still ahead on the calendar. But the smaller and more regional names matter too. That is where the scene feels most personal, and honestly, that is usually where the best stories live.

Photo credit: OpenClaw

Key Takeaways

– AI is moving beyond one-shot prompts and into agent-style tools that can handle multi-step work.
– Big players are racing to turn AI into something that can browse, summarize, automate, and take action.
– That shift could change how people work online, but it also raises bigger questions about trust, accuracy, and control.
– The next AI fight is not just about who has the smartest model. It is about who builds the most useful assistant.

For a while, the AI conversation was all about who had the flashiest chatbot. Bigger model. Faster answers. Better reasoning. More wow-factor demos. That race is still happening, sure, but the real trend now is something a lot more important.

AI is moving from talking to doing.

That is why AI agents are suddenly everywhere. Tech companies are no longer pitching AI as just a tool that answers questions. They want it to handle tasks, chain together actions, search across tools, summarize what matters, and in some cases actually get work done with less hand-holding.

That shift is a big deal because it changes the entire value proposition. A chatbot can impress you for five minutes. An agent that saves you an hour every day is something else entirely.

Why AI agents are suddenly the center of everything

The reason this trend is taking off now is pretty simple. The major AI players have already proven they can build models that generate text, code, and images at a high level. The next step is making those models useful in the messier real world.

That means letting AI interact with software, tabs, files, notes, spreadsheets, research sources, and all the other junk people deal with every day. Instead of asking a model one question at a time, users increasingly want something that can help manage the whole workflow.

That is where the agent framing comes in. AI agents are being sold as systems that can plan across multiple steps, use tools, and complete tasks with less babysitting. In theory, that could make them feel less like fancy autocomplete and more like actual digital workers.

And honestly, that is the pitch that could finally move AI from novelty into habit. People do not stick with tech because it sounds futuristic. They stick with tech because it saves time and reduces friction.

The upside sounds huge, but the risk is real too

There is a reason companies are leaning hard into this. If AI agents work the way their creators want, they could reshape how people search, write, organize projects, shop, code, and communicate.

But that is also where things get tricky fast. The more power an AI system has, the more damage it can do when it gets something wrong. A bad answer in a chat window is annoying. A bad action taken across your files, messages, calendar, or browser is a whole different level of problem.

So this is where trust becomes the real battleground. It is not enough for an AI agent to feel clever. It has to be dependable. It has to know when to stop. And it has to make it obvious what it is doing before it starts pressing buttons on your behalf.

That is probably why the companies pushing hardest into agents are also obsessed with guardrails, approvals, memory, and tool permissions. The moment AI goes from suggesting to acting, the stakes jump immediately.

This is the next real competition in AI

The most interesting part of this whole trend is that it changes what winning looks like. The smartest raw model does not automatically win if a rival product is easier to use, better connected to real tools, or more trustworthy in day-to-day work.

That means the next AI war is not just about benchmarks anymore. It is about product design. It is about ecosystem. It is about whether your assistant can actually fit into someone’s real life without becoming another thing they have to manage.

And that is why AI agents feel like such a major turning point. They push the whole industry toward utility instead of just spectacle.

We are still early, and plenty of these tools are going to overpromise before they settle down. That part feels inevitable. But the direction is obvious now. AI is no longer trying to just sound smart. It is trying to become useful enough that people build daily routines around it.

If that happens, the next era of AI will not be defined by chat alone. It will be defined by who builds the assistant people actually trust to do the work.

Photo credit: 4GQTV

Key Takeaways

– MEGACON Orlando says more than 195,000 fans attended the 2026 event.
– The convention featured major cast reunions, celebrity panels, cosplay showcases, and an after-hours Universal Orlando experience.
– Highlights included Lord of the Rings and Hobbit cast moments, John Cena Live, KPop Demon Hunters appearances, and the Masters of Cosplay Grand Finale.
– MEGACON Orlando 2027 is already set for May 20-23.

MEGACON Orlando 2026 is officially in the books, and the show is leaving behind some seriously big numbers. According to the event’s post-show release, more than 195,000 fans packed into Orange County Convention Center for four straight days of celebrity guests, cosplay, collectibles, panels, and full-blown fandom chaos.

That is a huge turnout, even by MEGACON standards. And honestly, it tracks with the energy the event had all weekend. This year’s show felt stacked from top to bottom, with enough reunion panels, fan-favorite guests, and convention floor madness to keep every corner of the building buzzing.

The convention also wasted no time teasing what is next. MEGACON Orlando confirmed that the 2027 edition is already locked in for May 20 through May 23, which gives fans an early target to circle now that this year’s event has wrapped.

For anyone who missed the show or is still recovering from it, the biggest story here is simple. MEGACON Orlando keeps operating like one of the biggest fandom events in North America, and 2026 looked like another giant reminder of that.

The celebrity reunion energy was off the charts

One of the biggest hooks this year was the lineup of cast reunions. MEGACON Orlando brought together names tied to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Star Trek, The Mummy, Hocus Pocus, The Goonies, and The X-Files, which is a pretty absurd buffet of nostalgia if you stop and think about it.

The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit presence clearly hit hard with fans. Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd reunited for a 25th anniversary celebration tied to Middle-earth, and that kind of panel basically prints emotion on command.

John Cena also gave the weekend one of its louder crowd magnets. MEGACON says fans showed up for autographs, photo ops, and John Cena Live, where he took the stage for a fan Q&A that quickly turned into one of the convention’s standout moments.

Then there was KPop Demon Hunters, which pulled strong attention through appearances from Arden Cho, Ji-young Yoo, and Rei Ami. The event says their panels drew packed crowds, with fans showing up for behind-the-scenes stories, breakout-success talk, and a look at what could be next.

Cosplay, Weta Workshop, and after-hours chaos kept it moving

MEGACON Orlando also leaned hard into experiences beyond celebrity panels. Weta Workshop brought in creative talent including Sir Richard Taylor, Tania Rodger, Daniel Falconer, and Flo Foxworthy, giving fantasy and film fans a deeper behind-the-scenes look at the craft side of blockbuster world-building.

That kind of programming matters because it gives the weekend more depth than just autograph lines and photo ops. A convention this size needs different lanes, and MEGACON has gotten pretty good at making sure there is always something else happening if one room is packed out.

Cosplay was another huge part of the weekend’s identity, which should surprise absolutely nobody. Fans got the Cosplay Red Carpet, the Masters of Cosplay Grand Prix, and the Masters of Cosplay Grand Finale, where winners from across North America competed for a $10,000 grand prize.

And because this convention apparently does not believe in taking it easy, Friday also brought an exclusive after-hours event at Universal Orlando Resort. Attendees got access to a late-night mix-in across Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, which is the kind of add-on that makes a convention weekend feel even more like a full destination event.

MEGACON Orlando still feels bigger every year

That is probably the clearest takeaway from the whole wrap-up. MEGACON Orlando is not just surviving on name recognition. It keeps scaling up the celebrity side, the cosplay side, the fandom side, and the experience side all at once.

When an event can pull more than 195,000 attendees, land that many reunion-driven moments, and already have fans talking about next year before the floor is even cold, it is doing something right.

The 2026 show sounds like it gave fans exactly what they wanted: big guests, memorable panels, cosplay spectacle, and enough all-day energy to make the weekend feel like a real event rather than just a crowded convention hall.

Now the countdown shifts to 2027. And if MEGACON Orlando wants to keep raising the bar, fans are probably going to show up ready for more.

Photo credit: Welcome To Rockville / Danny Wimmer Presents

Key Takeaways

– Welcome To Rockville 2026 returns to Daytona International Speedway on May 7-10.
– The 15th anniversary lineup features more than 160 bands across five stages.
– Guns N’ Roses, Foo Fighters, Bring Me The Horizon, and My Chemical Romance headline the festival.
– Fans can jump into the hype now with the official Spotify playlist and grab passes from the main festival site.

Welcome To Rockville 2026 is shaping up to be one of the nastiest festival weekends next year, and Daytona is going to feel every second of it. The 15th anniversary edition is not playing small. It is loading more than 160 bands onto five stages and daring rock fans to survive the set-time chaos.

The headline row is epic. Guns N’ Roses, Foo Fighters, Bring Me The Horizon, and My Chemical Romance are leading the charge across four straight days at Daytona International Speedway. That is the kind of top line that instantly turns a festival into a full-blown event.

And the wild part is that the lineup barely cools off after that. The Offspring, Turnstile, Parkway Drive, Breaking Benjamin, Motionless In White, A Day To Remember, Rise Against, Yellowcard, Poppy, The Warning, Sleeping With Sirens, and a pile of other heavy hitters are all packed into the same weekend.

That is why this one feels nostalgic with a punch in the best way. Welcome To Rockville 2026 is not just banking on nostalgia or one giant reunion-level moment. It is going all-in on range, volume, and pure fan overload.

Why the Welcome To Rockville 2026 lineup feels massive

Every day has its own identity, and that is what keeps this from feeling like a random stack of names on a poster. Thursday leans hard into giant hard rock and heavy chaos. Friday feels built for crossover energy, singalongs, and pit starters. Saturday swings into modern heavy favorites and scene staples. Sunday closes like an emotional wrecking ball.

That mix is where Rockville really flexes. You have legacy bands, modern festival monsters, pop-punk staples, metal bruisers, and emo crowd-killers all crammed into one weekend. So no matter where you land on the rock spectrum, there is going to be a stretch of this lineup that feels made for you.

And yeah, fans may have to make a choice on what days to attend. That is part of the fun. A stacked festival should force hard choices. If fans are already debating who they are willing to miss before the daily times even drop, that usually means the lineup did its job.

This is also the kind of bill that rewards people who show up early and stay curious. The headliners are obvious draws, but the lower lines are full of artists who can absolutely steal a weekend if the crowd gives them the room.

Daytona is about to get loud

Daytona International Speedway is the right home for something this oversized. A festival this huge needs room to breathe, and Rockville works best when it feels enormous. You want distance between stages, long sightlines, and enough space for the whole thing to feel like a takeover.

That is exactly what makes this event hit different. It is not just another stop on the calendar. It feels like a full-scale invasion of Daytona by every flavor of loud music fandom at once.

If you want to start the festival early, the official Welcome To Rockville Spotify playlist is already live:

That playlist is the perfect pregame. It lets you revisit the giants, catch up on undercard favorites, and start scouting the bands that could end up owning your whole weekend.

Passes are on sale now, and fans can find tickets, festival info, and planning details on the main site:

The bottom line is simple. Welcome To Rockville 2026 looks built for noise, sweat, nostalgia, discovery, and some absolutely brutal conflicts once the daily schedules land. If you love rock, metal, punk, or any messy mix of all three, Daytona is going to be the center of the universe next May.

Whether you’re a die-hard Whovian, a competitive cosplayer, or a comic book collector, this year’s lineup is shaping up to be one for the history books. Here is your first look at what’s coming to the floor this March.

A Heavy-Hitting Celebrity Lineup

MEGACON has just unveiled its first wave of celebrity guests, and it is packed with icons from the big and small screens.

Headliners include:

• Action & Favorites: John Cena, John Boyega (Star Wars), and Helen Hunt (Twister).
• Middle-earth Royalty: Orlando Bloom, plus the four Hobbits: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd.
• Sci-Fi Legends: Giancarlo Esposito (The Mandalorian), Josh Holloway (Lost), and James Marsters (Buffy).
• Star Trek Icons: Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Brent Spiner, and Walter Koenig.
• Comedy: Cedric Yarbrough and Thomas Lennon (Reno 911!).

Exclusive Fan Experiences

This year, MEGACON is going beyond the standard autograph table with immersive, one-of-a-kind “Experiences.”

An Evening with the Hobbits

Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of The Lord of the Rings with a once-in-a-generation reunion. Fans can opt for backstage passes, team-up photo ops, and a special evening panel featuring the four Shire legends.

John Cena Live

Meet the “Greatest of All Time” himself. John Cena will be appearing for autographs and photos, plus a special John Cena Live experience. Be sure to book early—because if you wait too long, you might not see him!

Comic Book Royalty

For the collectors, three of the biggest names in industry history will be hosting exclusive sessions:

• Jim Lee: Sketch experiences and autographs.
• Frank Miller: Private welcome talks and signed collectibles.
• Joe Quesada: Live on-stage presentations and exclusive merch.

Cosplay, Art, and Gaming

MEGACON isn’t just about the guests; it’s about the community.

• Masters of Cosplay Grand Finale: Watch the best of the best compete for a $10,000 grand prize. For aspiring creators, the 2026 Sunshine Qualifier will also be held during the weekend.
• Comics Xplosion: A live art battle where top illustrators go head-to-head in real-time. The best part? This event is included with your show badge!
• The Gaming Arena: Level up with tournaments, tabletop gaming, and Q&As with world-class video game voice actors.

Don’t Miss the Universal Orlando After-Hours Event

The party doesn’t stop when the convention center closes. On Friday, March 20, MEGACON will host an exclusive after-hours event at Universal Orlando Resort. Attendees will get unlimited access to select rides at both Universal Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida.

Planning Your Trip: Dates and Tickets

Ready to join the 180,000+ fans in Orlando?

• When: March 19 – 22, 2026
• Where: Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL
• Tickets: Single-day tickets and limited four-day passes are available now.

Pro Tip: Four-day passes sell out quickly every year. Secure yours early at the official MEGACON website to ensure you don’t miss a moment of the action.

Damon explained that the punishment from cancel culture can feel endless. Unlike a prison sentence, which has a clear beginning and end, public shaming often sticks forever. He said once the internet decides who you are, it rarely allows room for change, growth, or redemption, no matter how much time passes.

Affleck agreed, adding that cancel culture often removes basic human compassion. He said people make mistakes, learn, and evolve, but today’s climate doesn’t always allow that process to happen publicly. Together, they stressed the importance of forgiveness and letting people move forward rather than defining them forever by their worst moment.

Season two continues Iyanu’s growth as her abilities deepen and the responsibilities of leadership weigh heavier than ever. As buried history begins to surface, tensions rise across Yorubaland, awakening ancient magic that threatens to reshape the kingdom.

The release of the teaser comes as Iyanu continues to build impressive awards momentum. The series has earned three NAACP Image Award nominations, including Outstanding Animated Series, Outstanding Children’s Program, and Outstanding Writing in a Television Movie, Documentary, or Special for Iyanu: The Age of Wonders. Its cultural impact has also resonated globally, with Nigerian pop star Yemi Alade winning Best Soundtrack in a Movie, Series, or Documentary at the 9th AFRIMA Awards for her song “You Are,” the show’s opening theme.

“The response to Iyanu has been incredibly meaningful, from audiences around the world to recognition by the NAACP Image Awards,” said David Steward II, CEO and Founder of Lion Forge Entertainment and executive producer. “Season two raises the stakes in every way, emotionally, visually, and narratively, as Iyanu fully embraces her role as protector of Yorubaland and confronts forces rooted in ancient history and powerful magic.”

“Season two is about responsibility, legacy, and what it truly means to lead,” added creator and executive producer Roye Okupe. “Iyanu is no longer discovering who she is. She understands her power, and now she must decide how to use it. Introducing Queen Adura and the People of the Deep allows us to explore long-buried history and tensions that reshape Yorubaland in unexpected ways.”

Reuniting with Team Chosen—Ekun, Biyi, Toye, and Olori—Iyanu and her allies face challenges that will push each of them to grow as they fight to protect Yorubaland and help determine its future.

Voice Cast

Returning cast includes:
Serah Johnson as Iyanu
Okey Jude as Biyi
Sam Kugbiyi as Toye

New for Season Two

Faith Gesiere Agua as Queen Adura
David Onwubalili as Boju

Fans can catch up on season one of Iyanu, including the finale movie special Iyanu: The Age of Wonders, now streaming on HBO Max in the United States. Internationally, the series is available on Showmax across 44 African countries, ITVX in the United Kingdom, ABC iview in Australia, and on Ejunior Kids TV and STARZPLAY throughout the United Arab Emirates and the wider MENA region.

ABOUT LION FORGE ENTERTAINMENT

Lion Forge Entertainment (LFE) is one of the few Black-owned entertainment studios of scale in North America. Founded in 2019 by David Steward II, the studio is dedicated to amplifying authentic and diverse voices across animated and live-action storytelling. Guided by its mission, “Diverse Stories, Authentically Told,” LFE has earned an Academy Award for Hair Love along with multiple Emmy Awards. Lion Forge Entertainment is part of Polarity, a media and sports-focused firm whose portfolio includes Oni–Lion Forge Publishing Group and Magnetic Press, within the broader Steward Family holdings spanning technology, sports, and music. The company is led by President and Chief Content Officer Stephanie Sperber, an award-winning media executive and franchise builder in the kids and family space. Follow @lionforge for more.

This is it THE BIGGEST SALE OF THE YEAR for Animate! Orlando is live right now. If you have been waiting to lock in your badges for Florida’s premier celebration of animation and cosplay, the time to strike is now.

From now until Monday, December 1st at 11:59 PM, you can secure your spot at the Orange County Convention Center for a fraction of the price. Whether you are a hardcore cosplayer, a collector, or just looking for an incredible weekend of fandom, do not let this offer slip away.

The Deal: Up to 30% Off

Use promo code THANKS2025 at checkout to unlock these exclusive savings:

• 30% OFF Friday and Sunday Tickets
• 25% OFF VIP Passes, Weekend Passes, and Saturday Single-Day Tickets

Grab Your Discounted Tickets Here

Whether you are planning to attend for one big day or immerse yourself in the full weekend experience, this is the absolute best time to buy. Once the clock strikes midnight on Monday, these prices will jump back up.

What is Animate! Orlando?

If you’ve never been, you are in for a sensory overload of the best kind. Produced by the same team behind GalaxyCon, Animate! Orlando is a three-day festival dedicated to everything animated. It’s not just a convention; it’s a community.

Here is what you can expect when you step onto the show floor:

• World-Class Guests: Meet the voices behind your favorite characters. Past and typical lineups feature legends from Disney classics, hit anime series like Demon Slayer and My Hero Academia, and cartoons like SpongeBob and Invader Zim.
• Cosplay Central: The cosplay scene here is top-tier. Expect massive costume contests with cash prizes, red carpet photo ops, and a “Cosplay Wrestling” event that mixes pro-wrestling action with anime theatrics.
• Non-Stop Entertainment: The schedule is packed from morning until late night. We’re talking Q&A panels, late-night raves, karaoke, and fan meetups.
• Gaming & Shopping: Get lost in a massive exhibition hall filled with vendors selling rare collectibles, art, and apparel, or head to the gaming zone for video game tournaments and tabletop free-play.

Don’t Wait! Sale Ends Monday!

The countdown is on. Grab your friends, plan your cosplays, and lock in your tickets before the price hike.

Code: THANKS2025

Deadline: Monday, December 1st @ 11:59 PM

See you at the Orange County Convention Center!