CARBONDALE, IL— Saluki Con, Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s annual celebration of science, technology, arts, humanities, and the comic world, returns to SIU on April 18th and 19th, 2026, featuring an all-star roster of celebrity guests. Headlining the event is Henry Thomas, who began his career as a child actor and played the lead role of Elliott Taylor in the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, for which he earned a Young Artist Award and received many other nominations. Thomas has starred in films such as Cloak & Dagger, Frog Dreaming, Legends of the Fall, Gangs of New York, 11:14, Dear John, and Due West. He has also collaborated several times with filmmaker Mike Flanagan, appearing in the films Ouija: Origin of Evil, Gerald’s Game, and Doctor Sleep (the sequel to The Shining, in which Thomas played Jack Torrance), as well as the television series The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the House of Usher. In addition to signing autographs and meeting fans throughout the convention, Thomas will give a special ticketed Q&A and discussion after the convention floor closes on Saturday, April 18th, at 6:00 PM in SIU’s Student Center Auditorium.
Annabeth Gish, who has starred in the films Hiding Out, Shag, Mystic Pizza, The Last Supper, Nixon, Beautiful Girls, SLC Punk!, and Double Jeopardy, will also be featured. In addition to her film roles, she is known as Special Agent Monica Reyes on The X-Files and as Dr. Sarah Gunning in Midnight Mass as well as for starring in the television shows The West Wing, Halt and Catch Fire, Brotherhood, The Bridge, Mayfair Witches, Pretty Little Liars, and Sons of Anarchy. Clare McNulty, best known for her five-season run as Chantal Witherbottom on the cult hit Search Party, will also appear at this year’s event. Her film credits include SXSW Grand Jury Prize winner Fort Tilden, Men Don’t Whisper, and Roach Trip (which McNulty also wrote and directed and will screen at Saluki Con). She has appeared in The Conners, Night Court, Loot, Platonic, and the upcoming Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed.
In addition to this talented roster of actors, Saluki Con will feature the Catacombs & Comedians D&D comedy show as well as authors and artists, including National Book Award-winning cartoonist Nate Powell; painter and comix artist Brad Moore; Camron Johnson, a creator, artist, and author based out of Central Illinois; Ian Johnston, an SIU Linguistics Alumnus, writer and colorist of the Wanderers comic; JimmyZ, part owner of website Cthulhuville and writer on a number of comic books; Sean Dulaney, a writer, artist, and broadcaster from Southern Illinois; and Zac Atkinson, a comic creator from Illinois who has worked in the industry for over 20 years. Southern Illinois University Press authors Richard C. Lindberg (Tales of Forgotten Chicago), James A. Edstrom (Avenues of Transformation: Illinois’s Path from Territory to State), and Darrel Dexter (Pulling off the Sheets: The Second Ku Klux Klan in Deep Southern Illinois) will sign books at the SIU Press table and give a panel together on Sunday, April 19th. Also on Sunday, attendees can take part in a cosplay showcase and a cosplay karaoke/talent show, with cosplay meetups by fandom scheduled all weekend.
For a full schedule of panels and programming, please visit salukicon.siu.edu.