Four stars of the Twilight film saga are coming to downtown St. Louis this weekend, joining a lineup that also includes George Takei, William Shatner and horror icon Elvira for three days of panels, photo ops and cosplay contests at America's Center. GalaxyCon St. Louis runs Friday through Sunday, and organizers are promising nearly 100 actors, along with voice actors, artists, creators, wrestlers and fan groups on site.
Ashley Greene, Jackson Rathbone, Kellan Lutz, who played Emmett Cullen, and Peter Facinelli, who played Carlisle Cullen, are scheduled to appear all three days, according to STLtoday.com. The four will also headline a special Friday evening Q&A from 6 to 6:30 p.m., immediately followed by a movie screening on the venue's Super Stage, according to GalaxyCon. Fans need a general admission ticket to enter the venue before they can use those special-event passes.
The Twilight films, released between 2008 and 2012, earned an estimated $3.3 billion at the worldwide box office, per STLtoday.com's report. Facinelli has described a family feeling among the cast, while Kellan Lutz has said he won't let his own two children watch Twilight until they're at least 10. Facinelli additionally starred in the 2006 television movie Touch the Top of the World, which depicts Erik Weihenmayer's effort to climb Mount Everest despite blindness.
A Guest List Spanning Sci-Fi, Horror and 90s Nostalgia
The Twilight reunion is only part of the draw. Beyond the vampire-saga cast, GalaxyCon St. Louis's celebrity roster includes Elvira herself, Cassandra Peterson, alongside Star Trek veterans George Takei and William Shatner, comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, actor Brian Austin Green, Big Bang Theory's Kevin Sussman, and original Power Rangers stars Austin St. John and Walter Jones, according to GalaxyCon. The convention typically schedules different guests for specific days or across all three, so fans chasing a particular star should check the lineup before buying a pass.
At the 2024 San Jose edition, attendees posed for photos with Star Wars characters, the article notes. The event also features marquee celebrity panels and after-dark programming, including the Twilight Q&A.
Passes, Photo Ops and Cosplay Cash Prizes
Tickets are available for GalaxyCon St. Louis. Cosplay competitions this year carry more than $4,000 in total cash prizes, plus medals and trophies judged by featured cosplay guests, according to Taleventry. This year's schedule includes a Friday runway competition.
Dedicated fans can also pay for niche interactive sessions — a Saturday Spill the Tea with Cassandra Peterson event featuring tea and cookies and an intimate conversation is sold separately through Eventeny.
Hours, History and a Newly Expanded Venue
America's Center will be open from 2 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, with exhibition hall doors closing an hour early on Friday and Saturday even as after-dark programming continues in auxiliary spaces, per GalaxyCon. The complex itself has deep roots downtown: it opened in 1977 as the Cervantes Convention Center and now includes 502,000 square feet of exhibit space and the adjacent 67,000-seat Dome at America's Center, according to Explore St. Louis.
The venue completed a $210 million renovation known as AC Next Gen in November 2024, adding 75,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space and modernizing its enclosed loading docks — the first major physical expansion of the center since the 1990s, according to KAI Engineering.
A Touring Model Built on Local Economic Impact
GalaxyCon's multi-city touring model has already rolled through Raleigh with Hayden Christensen and Oklahoma City earlier this year, with St. Louis now the latest stop on the tour.
GalaxyCon has described the convention format as a chance for fans to interact face to face with favorite celebrities. For St. Louis, that means three days of Twilight nostalgia, Star Trek royalty and cosplay competition sharing the floor of a convention center that's barely two years removed from its biggest renovation in decades.
