Fan Faves from “True Blood”, “Vampire Diaries” Added to Dragon*Con

After more than a week with no updates, Dragon*Con has added some fan favorites from two of the hottest current television series to the guest list.

And while you’re drooling over the photo at the left, I will shamelessly admit to adding this blog post with just a teensy bit of lust going on.

If you haven’t guessed by now, Joe Manganiello – who plays hot-blooded werewolf Alcide Herveaux on the HBO hit series “True Blood” – has been added to this year’s guest list for Dragon*Con 2011. This makes the third guest from the show, with Jim Parrack (Hoyt Fortenberry) having been added about a month ago, and Denis O’Hare (Russell Edgington, Vampire King of Mississippi), who was added back in April. Joe joined the show in season 2, and was quickly promoted to series regular for season 3. Expect for Alcide to play a larger role in the show, now that love interest Sookie is unattached. Season 4 of “True Blood” premieres June 26 on HBO.

Another fan favorite comes to Dragon*Con from the locally-filmed television series, “The Vampire Diaries”. Sara Canning, who plays Aunt Jenna on the show, has been confirmed to appear. SPOILER ALERT Jenna’s role on the show took a major, unforeseen turn in the last few episodes of the second season, beginning with her finding out that vampires exist to her being turned into one and eventually killed as part of Klaus’ ritual to become the first vampire/werewolf hybrid. Canning will be joined by fellow cast mate David Anders, who played John Gilbert on the show.

Dragon*Con is the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film. Every Labor Day weekend, about 40,000 people crowd the streets and take over the hotels of downtown Atlanta to meet friends, celebrities, cosplay and totally geek out. Ticket information can be found on the official website.

You can read more about my experiences at Dragon*Cons past at this link.