Image via Big Lick Comic Con
Published May 28, 2026, 8:11 PM EDT
David is a Senior Editor at Collider focused primarily on Lists. His professional journey began in the mid-2010s as a Marketing specialist before embarking on his writing career in the 2020s. At Collider, David started as a Senior Writer in late 2022 and has been a Senior Editor since mid-2023. He is in charge of ideating compelling and engaging List articles by working closely with writers, both Senior and Junior, as well as other editors. Occasionally, David also reviews movies and TV shows and writes episode recaps. Currently, David is also writing his second novel, a psychological horror satire that will, hopefully, be picked up for publication sometime next year.
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The website's description says it best: "Big Lick Comic Con NOVA is Northern Virginia’s ultimate weekend celebration of comics, pop culture, celebrities, creators, cosplay, gaming, vendors, and family-friendly fun." An incredible gathering of talent and a grand celebration of geek culture, Big Lick Comic Con NOVA promises a weekend full of entertainment, activities, news, and unforgettable memories.
As it happens with most conventions, there is so much to do that one could easily find oneself confused about what panels to attend and what activities to participate in. Worry not, because we are here to provide the highlights of the weekend and hopefully make your experience a bit more digestible. These are the best things to do at Big Lick Comic Con NOVA 2026, from exciting cast reunions to cosplay contests that will put your creativity to the test.
Aliens Cast Reunion Q&A with Ricco Ross, Daniel Kash & Jeanette Goldstein - 13:00
Image via 20th Century StudiosJames Cameron's Aliens is both one of the all-time best sci-fi movies and one of the greatest sequels ever made. Turning the original sci-fi horror into an action thriller was a genius idea, allowing for a more hectic, exhilarating story that uses the sci-fi setting to further enhance the thrills. Joining Sigourney Weaver is a sprawling cast that includes Ricco Ross as Frost, Jeanette Goldstein as Vasquez, and Daniel Kash as Spunkmeyer, all members of the Colonial Marines who join Ripley in her mission.
Big Lick Comic Con NOVA 2026 will feature a reunion with Ross, Goldstein, and Kash. Hosted by Collider's own Maggie Lovitt, the panel will be both a celebration of the film's immense legacy and a chance for the actors to reminisce about their experience shooting this game-changing masterpiece. It's been forty years since Aliens first premiered, but its reputation speaks for itself, meaning fans of the movie and the franchise will not want to miss this unique opportunity to hear from three of the most underrated members of the cast.
RWBY Cast Reunion Event with Lindsay Jones, Arryn Zech, Barbara Dunkelman and Kara Eberle - 14:00
Image via CrunchyrollThe animated web series RWBY has become one of the most iconic in its medium. In the fictional world of Remnant, young men and women train to become either Hunters or Huntresses to protect the world from monsters called Grimm. The series centers on four Huntresses, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang, whose initials also make up the title. It originally ran for eight volumes, from 2013 to 2020, before returning for a ninth in 2023, with a tenth currently in development.
Collider's Maggie Lovitt will host this panel, which will feature the incredible voice talent behind the four major characters. Lindsay Jones, who voices Ruby, Arryn Zech, who voices Blake Belladonna, Barbara Dunkelman, who voices Yang Xiao Long, and Kara Eberle, who voices Weiss Schnee, will join Maggie for a conversation about the show's success and legacy. Hopefully, we'll also get some tidbits about the upcoming volume 10. All on-stage events will be sponsored by RWBY, making this panel arguably the centerpiece of the weekend.
X-Men Reunion Q&A with Alison Sealy-Smith & Catherine Disher - 16:00
Few animated shows from the '90s have had the staying power or critical and fan acclaim as X-Men: The Animated Series. The show is arguably the best adaptation of the mutant team in any medium, successfully translating most of the team's most iconic comic book storylines into the small screen. Although it aired for only five seasons from 1992 to 1997, its legacy endured well into the new millennium, eventually inspiring a revival on Disney+, X-Men '97.
At Big Lick Comic Con NOVA 2026, Collider's Maggie Lovitt will host a panel with Catherine Disher, who voiced Jean Grey for all five seasons, and Alison Sealy-Smith, who voiced Ororo Munroe/Storm from 1993 to 1997. Together, these two icons of voice acting will discuss the show's overwhelming success, share memories of their time voicing these legendary comic book characters, and reflect on the impact they've had on Jean and Storm's larger legacies. Sealy-Smith is reprising her role in X-Men '97, so perhaps we'll even learn a thing or two about the upcoming second season.
Disney Reunion featuring Bill Farmer, Kaitlyn Robrock & Tony Anselmo - 13:00
Image via Disney Television AnimationIn pop culture, few characters are more iconic than Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, and Goofy. These three beloved icons have been a part of pretty much everyone's childhood, bringing laughter, joy, and, in the case of Donald and Goofy, their fair share of mayhem into our living rooms and movie theaters.
At Big Lick Comic Con NOVA 2026, Collider's Maggie Lovitt will get the chance to host a panel with the voices behind these three seminal figures of animation. Bill Farmer, Kaitlyn Robrock, and Tony Anselmo will be ready to discuss their work across multiple projects, a conversation no fan of animation or Disney can afford to miss. It's not always that three genuine legends are together for an in-depth discussion of their career, and the fact that this reunion will happen in less than a week should be reason enough for your inner child to celebrate.
Supernatural Reunion with Emily Swallow & Ruth Connell - 14:00
Image via The CWSupernatural is a genuine television institution of the 2000s. The show, led by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, went on for a whopping fifteen seasons and chronicled the adventures of brothers Dean and Sam Winchester as they battled numerous supernatural beings, from ghosts and demons to monsters and even God (really). Today, Supernatural is considered among the best fantasy TV shows ever, and for good reason.
As one would expect from any show that goes on for fifteen years, many actors were part of the sprawling ensemble, even if they weren't in for the whole ride. Two of the most important recurring players are Emily Swallow and Ruth Connell, who played Amara, AKA The Darkness, and Rowena MacLeod, respectively. These two fan-favorites are huge reasons behind the success of the show's last five seasons, and they'll be at Big Lick Comic Con NOVA 2026 to discuss their roles, share some fun memories, and reflect on what makes Supernatural such an enduring gem of modern TV. The panel will be hosted by Collider's Maggie Lovitt, and you can surely expect many fun stories from these talented actresses.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz
Which Taylor Sheridan
Show Do You Belong In?
Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn't write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
FIND YOUR WORLD →
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan's world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
ALand, legacy, and a name that's been feared and respected for generations. BKnowing the deal better than anyone else in the room — and being willing to walk away first. CReputation. I've earned it the hard way, and everyone in the room knows it. DBeing the only person both sides will talk to. That makes me indispensable — and dangerous.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan's universe is always absolute — and always costly.
AFamily — blood or chosen. The ranch, the name, the people who carry it with me. BThe company — or whoever's signing the cheques. Loyalty follows the contract. CMy crew. The men who stood with me when it counted — I don't abandon them for anything. DMy community — even when my community is a powder keg and I'm the only thing stopping it from blowing.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it's crossed.
AQuietly, decisively, and in a way that sends a message to everyone watching. BI outmanoeuvre them legally, financially, and politically before they even know I've moved. CDirectly. Old school. You cross me, you hear about it to your face — and then you deal with the consequences. DI absorb it, calculate the fallout, and find the move that keeps the whole system from collapsing.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan's worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
AWide open land — mountains, sky, silence. Somewhere you can see trouble coming from a mile away. BThe oil fields of West Texas — brutal, lucrative, and indifferent to whoever happens to be standing on top of them. CA mid-size city where the rules haven't quite caught up yet — fertile ground for someone with vision and nerve. DA rust-belt town built around a prison — where everyone's life is shaped by what's inside those walls.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
AI do what has to be done to protect what's mine. I'll answer for it eventually — but not today. BGrey is just business. The line moves depending on what's at stake, and I move with it. CI have a code — it's not the law's code, but it's mine, and I don't break it. DI've made peace with it. Keeping the peace requires compromises most people don't have the stomach for.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they're defending.
AA way of life that the modern world is doing everything it can to erase. BMy position — and the leverage that comes with being the person everyone needs to close a deal. CRelevance. I've been away, I've been written off — and I'm proving that was a mistake. DWhatever fragile order I've managed to build — because without it, everything burns.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan's world is never given — it's established, maintained, and constantly tested.
ABy example and force of will. People follow me because they believe in what I'm protecting — and because they know what happens if they don't. BThrough negotiation and leverage. I don't need people to like me — I need them to need me. CBy being the smartest, most experienced person in the room and making sure everyone quietly knows it. DBy being the calm centre of a situation that would spiral without me — and accepting that nobody thanks you for it.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
AThey'll learn. Or they won't. Either way, the land was here before them and it'll be here after. BI figure out what they want, what they're worth, and whether they're an asset or a problem — fast. CI was the outsider once. I give them a chance — one — to show they understand respect. DNew players destabilise everything I've built. I assess the threat and manage it before it manages me.
NEXT QUESTION →
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
AMy family's peace — maybe their innocence. The ranch demands everything, and I've let it take too much. BRelationships, time, any version of a normal life. The job eats everything that isn't nailed down. CYears. Decades in some cases. Time I can't get back — but I'm not done yet. DMy conscience, mostly. And the ability to ever fully trust anyone on either side of the wall.
NEXT QUESTION →
10
When it's over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan's characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
AThat I held the line. That the land is still ours and everything I did was worth it. BThat I was the best at what I did and that no deal ever got closed without me at the table. CThat I built something real, somewhere nobody expected it, and I did it on my own terms. DThat I kept the peace when nobody else could — and that the town is still standing because of it.
REVEAL MY SHOW →
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you're complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world's indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you're willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family's weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what's yours, you don't escalate — you finish it. You're not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone's world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn't make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You're a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they'll do to get it. You're not naive enough to think this world is fair. You're smart enough to be the one deciding who it's fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you're not above reminding people that the two aren't mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they'd be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they're more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don't need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you're the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky's world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You've made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
Big Lick Comic Con Cosplay Competition - 16:00
Image via Fan Expo HQAs the closing event of the weekend, Big Lick Comic Con NOVA 2026 will be holding a cosplay competition, because no comic con is complete without one of those. Cosplaying is a genuine art form, a chance for fans to showcase their creativity, resourcefulness, and passion for pop culture. Some of the costumes showcased at these events are unbelievably good, making the contest the perfect way to end the weekend. The contest will be divided into categories depending on your level of expertise and your age.
Maybe want to dress up as your favorite comic book superhero sidekick. Maybe you want to be a Jedi knight or a knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Maybe you want to be an anime magical girl or a Disney villain. Maybe you just want to attend as a spectator and witness the sheer imagination on display. It's up to you how to best enjoy this exciting contest.
English (US) ·