SALT LAKE CITY — Big news for “The Office” fans: Brian Baumgartner, the actor who played Kevin Malone on the hit NBC sitcom, is coming to April’s FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention.
Baumgartner, along with a handful of other guests, were announced Monday afternoon during a livestream on FanX’s Facebook page. Guests for the event, happening April 19-20 at the Salt Palace Convention Center, include Mike Colter, the star of Netflix’s “Luke Cage;” Warwick Davis (“Willow”); Pom Klementieff (Mantis from “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”); Aimee Garcia (“Lucifer,” “Dexter”) and Val Kilmer.
A few well-known voice actors were also announced Monday afternoon. Linda Larkin, who voiced Princess Jasmine in 1992's “Aladdin,” will be at April’s event, as will her costar Scott Weinger, who voiced Aladdin. Irene Bedard, the voice of Pocahontas in the 1995 Disney film, was also among the announced guests.
In a phone interview with the Deseret News following Monday’s livestream, FanX co-founder Bryan Brandenburg said approximately 20 more guests — including one or two more “Office” cast members — will be announced in the coming months.
He also mentioned Casey Cott of the TV show “Riverdale,” who will be at April’s event, but was not mentioned during the livestream.
FanX co-founder Dan Farr said FanX has become one of the most desirable conventions for celebrity guests.
“In fact, we have such a powerful reputation that precedes us, it makes it very easy to book great talent into our shows, because they all talk about Salt Lake — and really, they talk about the fans here,” Farr said during the livestream.
April’s event will also bring new changes to how FanX handles celebrity photo opps. Brandenburg said fixing these challenges has become a top priority. At previous events, he said, attendees would pre-pay for a photo opp, then the photos would be emailed to the attendee within a few hours. Previously, however, the photo vendor’s servers crashed. This time, Brandenburg said FanX has worked with the vendor to update their software and equipment so that fans can receive their digital photos immediately.
For more information on April’s FanX, visit FanXSaltLake.com or facebook.com/SaltLakeComicConvention.