Supanova Comic Con & Gaming

The Melbourne edition of Supanova, branded "a celebration of fandom", has again delivered in 2019. In fact, the convention's biggest celebrity attractions were last minute surprises. Ian Somerhalder, iconic as Damon Salvatore in The CW's The Vampire Diaries, and Millie Bobby Brown, famed as Stranger Things' Jane 'Eleven' Hopper, were announced only in March, following the understandable cancellations of Riverdale's Camila Mendes and Jordan Connor (Luke Perry's passing affected filming schedules). Among the other 'Supa-Star' guests are Teen Wolf's Tyler Posey and Tyler Hoechlin – the MTV show hugely popular even two years after its finale. (Indeed, there is a fan seminar "Sterek, Hairy Ladies, And True Alphas: What Does Teen Wolf Say About Gender And Sexuality?".) Aussie actor Eliza Taylor, from The 100, is also present.

The queues for the stars' Q&A panels are EPIC, forming some two hours prior. Still, Supanova offers a host of activities, most notably cosplay – Daenerys Targaryen espied riding the train over a dragon. This year the Melbourne Supanova, twinned with a Gold Coast event next weekend, is marking the 40th anniversary of George Miller's Mad Max, reuniting cast and crew. A display vehicle has a buckled cardboard cut-out of Mel Gibson in the driver's seat with a toy dog. Tucked away in an exhibitors hall is the QBD booth with guest YA authors, like the local Astrid Scholte (her buzz tome Four Dead Queens is akin to a fantasy Agatha Christie mystery). Scholte is tweeting excitedly about Somerhalder's presence. Today, cons have blurred the boundaries between mass- and sub-culture. Inevitably, they're used to promote upcoming movie blockbusters. 

The low-key Toby Stephens is British acting royalty, his mum Dame Maggie Smith. Prolific and versatile, he's materialised in everything from Tilda Swinton's subversive Orlando to the Cambridge Spies mini-series to Agatha Christie's Poirot. Yet Stephens hit the con circuit having starred in Black Sails, a cult Starz pirate epic inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. A panelist in the FilmInk Features Theatre on Saturday morning, the Londoner suggests that UK actors will try anything, including audiobooks, to earn a crust. He's just wrapped shooting season two of Netflix's sci-fi Lost In Space. 

Stephens is a classic raconteur. The opening audience question relates to Bond, Stephens' breakout role that of the villain Gustav Graves in 2002's Pierce Brosnan-led Die Another Day. Later, he voiced Bond himself for BBC Radio. Reading Ian Fleming's original 007 spy novels, Stephens was unnerved, describing them as "sexist" and "racist". Stephens is likewise probed about portraying Edward Rochester in the BBC's 2006 adaption of Jane Eyre, saying he was "very flattered" to be touted for the part – and enthusing about co-star Ruth Wilson. However, Stephens talks extensively about playing the broody Captain James 'Flint' McGraw in Black Sails, revealing that it was "taxing". He was away from his family and the job was physically demanding. "My body was ruined by doing that experience." Stephens was "relieved" when the show ended in 2017.

Unusually for Supanova, Somerhalder – the mercurial Louisiana boy stylishly boho in hat and jewellery – conducts two panels over the weekend, accompanying fellow TVD universe identity Nathaniel Buzolic (aka Kol Mikaelson) for the first in the Supanova Cosplay Odyssey Theatre on Saturday afternoon. Buzolic arrives early, answering a query from a child whose family are, fascinatingly, Russian toymakers. The actors freely discuss their less successful projects. The jocular Buzolic, a Sydneysider who briefly resided in Melbourne, hosted the late night game show The Mint. "I had a rat's tail on Channel 9!" Curiously, he initially "tested" for the part of Damon's tragic brother, Stefan. 

Word is that Somerhalder, chatty with fans, is so in-demand for paid autographs and photos that he skips lunch breaks, hence his scoffing hot chips mid-panel. Somerhalder and Buzolic are both non-committal about reprising their TVD roles in the latest spin-off, Legacies. Somerhalder – balancing acting with production companies, philanthropy and fatherhood – has his "head buried" in the upcoming Netflix series V-Wars, a dystopian take on vampire mythology in which he plays (the unfanged) Dr Luther Swann. It's currently in post-production, with reshoots happening. Buzolic observes that Legacies "is like a completely different world", while praising Danielle Rose Russell's Hope Mikaelson.

The former vamps get deep, too. Buzolic says that, in the cancel culture era, actors must avoid off-the-cuff jokes in panels. Both worry about the impact of social media and pervasive depression. In Sunday's session, Somerhalder confesses that he's intrigued how Damon still commands such a loyal female fandom post-Time's Up, given that he casually exploits and kills people and, as a 100-year-old-plus vampire, dates a teen Elena. "Ultimately, that shit is illegal, y'all!" Did Somerhalder just cancel Damon?