Billy Boyd and BeecakeSALT LAKE CITY — FantasyCon, with an already potent lineup of guests from “The Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” movies, announced that Billy Boyd will be joining the show. The convention, with its obvious fantasy theme, is striving to be different from the many popular-culture events that dot North America with increased interactivity and an emphasis on fantasy art.

Set for July 3 – 5, capitalizing on the 4th of July weekend in Salt Lake City, the convention is self described as “the first convention of its kind to answer the call for an interactive, immersive experience that encompasses all things in the genre of pop culture fantasy.”

Boyd joins LOTR partners Sean Astin and John Rhys-Davies, along with Hobbit actors Slyvester McCoy, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, William Kircher, and Jed Brophy. The convention is Stott’s first convention appearance in North America.

FantasyCon is also a major sponsor of TheOneRing.net and the show will feature several of our own staffers, including FantasyCon Program Director Larry D. Curtis, MrCere here at TheOneRing.net. According to him, “There are more Middle-earth names to come, and by the time all the announcements are done we will offer a unparallelled Tolkien lineup. We mostly have all of these guys for three days helping us celebrate fantasy and of course signing autographs and providing photo ops with fans.

Billy Boyd at TORn's booth, DragonCon 2012
Billy Boyd at TORn’s booth, DragonCon 2012
“FantasyCon’s founder Josh Patel had most of these pieces in place before he reached out to me so I was delighted immediately with his plans. I just talked to these guys about the show while we were together in Germany at HobbitCon 2 and they are excited and we are doing some really fun programming stuff, not just talking from the stage. This is a chance for fans in the U.S. to meet an army of talent from these franchises. What is more, there is a lot of other really good related content. We are having a world-class Middle-earth convention inside a spectacular fantasy convention.”

The convention also includes a group of masterwork fantasy artists, many who are bringing commissioned paintings to the event. Artists include TORn friend and Middle-earth artist Donato Giancola and Brom. The full list of artists can be found right here.

The show starts Thursday July 3rd and will finish Saturday July 5th in Salt Lake City. The Salt Palace Convention Center will host the event, close to many hotels and close to the Salt Lake airport.

The main website is here: www.fantasycon.com
To purchase tickets go here: www.fantasycon.com/tickets