How’s that for a hit list of original trilogy greats, a star of the sequel trilogy and the man who not only portrayed Jango Fett in the prequel trilogy, but returned to play his unaltered clone in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. That list of guests above is what greeted fans who headed to the Wodson Park Sports & Leisure Centre in Ware, Hertfordshire on Sunday 23rd November for a day of signings, photographs, collectibles and talks at the very first Herts Comic Con, presented by Striking Events. I was thrilled to be asked to be the panel host for the day, which meant three talks and the chance to learn even more from these legends of the saga (though all involved are far too modest to ever consider themselves such a thing).
Before the talks, the dealers room, and very impressive it was too. The location is perfect for events, with the main sports hall given over to the trading area, packed with everything you could want, from autographs, posters and comics to toys, collectibles and plushes. Plenty of familiar faces filled the hall and stood behind the booths, and for kids coming to the event there was no end of great bargains and cool items to hand over Mom and Dad’s moolah for.
The first panel took me upstairs to the Talk Room where I sat down with Brian ‘BB-8’ Herring and Guy ‘Grand Moff Tarkin’ Henry for a really fun and easy chat about their experiences in the prequel trilogy and on Rogue One. No matter how many time I’ve interviewed Brian (10 times) or Guy (6 times) I learn something new, or get a slightly different perspective on their experiences. Today I heard the infamous Ben Mendelsohn monitor story, only to learn that yes, Guy was in fact looking at the monitor when he’d previously claimed to have been looking everywhere but. Huge fun, and a treat for the audience as both gentlemen were on top audience-pleasing form.
A break for lunch (and a very agreeable and unexpectedly delicious chicken curry) and it was time for the second panel of the day and a first for me, an in-person chat with Temuera Morrison. Thirteen years ago I’d been fortunate enough to correspond with Temuera for a couple of articles in Star Wars Insider via email, and had been sat at the same (looooong) table as him at the 501st bash at Celebration Europe 2 in Essen back in 2013, but this was my first time one-on-one, and it was everything I thought (and hoped) it would be. We were treated to some singing, some blues, lots of stories, and I even managed to get in a question or two. It was huge fun, and you can listen to the panel below on a special LIVE episode of Making Tracks below.
Jill from Striking Events and our brilliant tech Lea took some photos of the panel, which you can check out. We’ve been fortunate enough to have worked with both of them numerous times over the years, so it was a pleasure to be able to hook up again for another show.
Next up was a Celebration worthy panel that brought together Garrick Hagon (Biggs in A New Hope), Julian Glover (General Veers in The Empire Strikes Back) and Dermot Crowley (General Madine in Return of the Jedi) to discuss their time in the galaxy, and again the panel brought some surprising moments. It’s very easy to forget that while they’re stars of the saga they’re also working actors with busy lives and their own careers, so they don’t know the ins and outs of the characters as we do, or necessasrily the careers of each other, despite (in the case of these three) having been on the ‘circuit’ together for many years. Listen to Making Tracks LIVE as the panel drops some fascinating information on a number of topics.
Sadly the planned fourth panel with Mike Quinn and Mike Edmonds didn’t take place as the previous panels overran, but despite that the day was a big success, thanks in large part to stage manager and tech whiz Lea who as always does a brilliant job keeping the wheels on the wagon.
Hats off to Mark, Jill and the Striking Events team for such a smoothly run, well organised and fun show, in a venue that will hopefully become a regular home for such events, and here’s to doing it all again in 2026.
