Stars from 'Stranger Things' to appear at Dragon Con

ATLANTA — Expect a "Stranger" Dragon Con this year.

Stars from “Stranger Things” will be among the many celebrity guests at Dragon Con 2018, the enormous pop culture convention taking place in downtown Atlanta from Aug. 31-Sept. 3.

There will be 400 personalities from the worlds of science fiction and fantasy appearing in panels, discussions, lectures and demonstrations, including movie and television actors, authors, artists, creators and experts.

Among those guests are Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin, who play middle school boys Dustin and Lucas in "Stranger Things," which is filmed in and near Atlanta. Also appearing will be Jennifer Morrison (known as Emma Swan from television's "Once Upon A Time,") and Evangeline Lilly, star of "Ant-Man and The Wasp."

All are first-timers at Dragon Con.

These guests and their colleagues will entertain an estimated 85,000 fans, who will fill up five downtown hotels and enjoy a Labor Day weekend that stretches out to four days.

Dragon Con recently released the names of some of the notables who will attract the most attention, and the biggest of these is probably an eight-foot, bright yellow creature named Big Bird.

Carroll Spinney, who served as Big Bird from 1969 through 2017 won't appear in costume, but will be on hand to discuss his many adventures on Sesame Street, a show that is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Spinney also portrayed Oscar the Grouch in the children's educational television show. He will be joined in Atlanta by Bob McGrath (who has been the human character Bob since 1969), Emilio Delgado (Luis since 1971) and Roscoe Orman (who has been Gordon since 1974).

Other top guests include:

•Walter Koenig who played navigator Pavel Chekov in the original “Star Trek” series and six movies. The latest iteration of that now-ancient TV series is Star Trek: Discovery,” and Dragon Con will welcome Jason Isaacs, Captain Gabriel Lorca from the new series. “Discovery” crew-mates Kenneth Mitchell and Mary Chieffo will also be on hand.

•World Wrestling Entertainment legend Ric Flair.

•Mike Colter who plays Luke Cage in the Netflix series “Luke Cage.”

•Peter Capaldi, the twelfth doctor on “Dr. Who.”

•Mitch Pileggi, William B. Davis and Annabeth Gish, all from television’s “The X-Files,” in which Gish plays Monica Reyes, Pileggi plays Walter Skinner and Davis is the mysterious “Smoking Man.”

•Five actors from "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." on ABC television, including Brett Dalton, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Adrian Pasdar, Maximillian Osinki and Dichen Lachman. Pasdar is also the voice of Tony Stark/Iron Man in animated television shows and videos.

•Ian Ziering, who has starred as Fin Shepherd in five "Sharknado" movies (did you believe they could stretch that joke that far?) and appeared in the notable 1990s television teen drama, "Beverly Hills 90210."

Founded in 1987, Dragon Con programs thousands of hours of events over the four-day weekend celebrating science fiction, film, fantasy, comics, video games and other elements of pop culture.

It is well-known for its Saturday morning parade, which draws many thousands of spectators.

For more information go to dragoncon.org.

Cox Media Group