Walking Dead Sci Fi Expo 2013

The Sci Fi Expo brought in three actors from the Walking Dead: Emma Bell, Laurie Holden, and Danai Gurira.

I got Emma Bell early Saturday morning. Since she is now on the relaunch of the Dallas TV show the chat turned to the passing of Larry Hagman.

Laurie was only coming only on Sunday.

 Every time I passed Danai the line was long. Since I had other obligations on Saturday, I decided to take a chance and try to get both on Sunday. 

Sunday wasn’t without obligations either. I needed to work on Sunday.  I was to do some testing.  The initial plan was to test at 11AM.  I figured I’d be done by Noon. Then I could drive back out to the convention. 

No luck.  The scheduled was delayed. The new test time was Noon. I can roll with that punch. No problem. Its’ a 30 minute drive.  Plenty of time to stand in line and get the autographs I needed.

Then the new time was 12:30PM. Then 2PM.  Even before the ink was dry on the last email, a new memo was sent stating the start time would be 3PM.

The show was to close at 5PM. As I did the math in my head; I was thinking what actors would be remaining to the very end?    Laurie filmed on Saturday.  She would be exhausted on Sunday and take the first chance to leave on Sunday.  I figured I was out of luck.

Testing really did start at 3PM. I finished a smidge after 4PM.  Then I was raced to the Irving Convention Center. Surprisingly traffic didn’t slow me down.  I was able to park in the paid lot for free because the attendants had already abandoned their posts. I even found a spot close to the front entrance.

I grabbed my backpack and rushed in.  Got to the autograph area and surprise surprise surprise! Both Laurie and Danai were still there.  I saw a lot of volunteers milling around and I checked with them that I could still get in line and they said yes.  It was probably 4:45PM.

Dania was first.  She signed and I asked if she got to site-see at all on this trip. She said no but they took her to a ‘posh’ restaurant the night before.  Until she said ‘posh’ I hadn’t heard her accent.

Laurie had a few people in line.  It went fast.  I thanked her for showing up and staying late. She said she was coming to Dallas even if she was comatose.  She had cancelled before and was not planning on cancelling again. 

As I was leaving she asked one of the volunteers if the line was capped. They said no. Then she told them not to turn anyone away.  A real trooper.  I was very thankful to her staying at late as she did. It was a great ending to a busy weekend.

AH