By Avery and Ollie Kaplan
On Saturday, June 13th, 2026 and Sunday, June 14th, 2026, the tenth annual Hellmouth Con was held at Torrence High School in Torrence, California. On Saturday we attended the convention, which celebrates the seminal TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 – 2003) and its spinoff, Angel (1999 – 2004). And while the Buffy fandom has been through some trials and tribulations the past few years, the event was a celebration of the positive legacy of the Sarah Michelle Gellar-led universe.
Welcome Back to the Hellmouth
The Sunnydale High campus. Photo credit: Avery and Ollie Kaplan.
The secret sauce for this convention? Holding the event at Torrence High School, where Hellmouth Con has taken place the past three years. The school served as the shooting location for the first three seasons of Buffy, standing in for the high school in the fictional suburb of Sunnydale, California.
A Razorbacks school reunion banner. Photo credit: Avery and Ollie Kaplan.
From the moment we arrived, which was a few minutes before the event opened on Saturday, there was an obvious excitement in the air. This was partially due to the location, which has loomed large in the attendees’ collective imagination for the past thirty years. And it was also thanks to the attire of those present at the event: while there were dozens of cosplays – with Spike, Dark Willow, Giles and Buffy in her red leather pants being the most common – there were also lots of attendees who “Buffy-bounded,” wearing 90s era clothing and carrying Scooby Doo accessories to recreate the vibe of those early seasons.
The queue to enter Hellmouth Con. Photo credit: Avery and Ollie Kaplan.
After waiting a few minutes in a queue in the hot sun in front of the school, the crowd was admitted and pressed through the two front doors of “Sunnydale High.” While I heard plenty of grumbling about the line, you can’t deny that this really did recreate the feeling of being smashed into the halls of a high school at the beginning of the school day.
The grounds of the school were decorated with some posters, advertising specific events – like the improv troupe and a queer dance night – on paper fliers, which again evoked the high school vibe. Maps with the daily schedule were posted across the campus, making navigation easy. And banners celebrating Sunnydale High’s sports teams, the Razorbacks, added some more immersive atmosphere.
If the Apocalypse Comes, Beep Me
There were several main components for Hellmouth Con ’26. The first was the full schedule of panels, which is how we spent most of our day. The headlining panels took place in the generously sized (for a high school) main auditorium, which was well air conditioned and had relatively comfortable seating. Other panels were held in locations throughout the campus, including in the smaller auditorium and on the lawn under a tree. There was also the “Sunnydale Mall,” which was the branding for the vendors tables in the school’s gym. Nearby was “Doublemeat Palace,” the parking lot where a quartet of food trucks were set up.
As regular attendees of San Diego Comic-Con, we found the atmosphere at Hellmouth Con to be much more relaxed. There were far fewer attendees, creating a more personal experience that never felt overwhelming. It wasn’t so sparsely attended that it ever felt too empty, either.
Main Auditorium Panels
The panel moderator, Benson and Belasco. Photo credit: Avery and Ollie Kaplan.
The first panel we attended was in the main auditorium and featured Amber Benson (Tara Maclay) in conversation with author Raven Belasco. Benson records the audiobooks for Belasco’s Blood and Ancient Scrolls series, and the conversation included some interesting and detailed discussions on the differences between the books’ vampiric framework and Buffy’s bloodsuckers. This panel should be considered a success, as both of us left with an interest in checking out Belasco’s series.
Romanov, Acker and Kramer. Photo credit: Avery and Ollie Kaplan.
We also attended a panel in the main auditorium called “(Multi) Dimensional Beings,” featuring Stephanie Romanov (Lilah Morgan), Amy Acker (Winifred “Fred” Burke/Illyria) and Clare Kramer (“Glory”). All three actors had great energy, wonderful chemistry and were very gracious about the continued support of fans. In fact, it should be noted that all the actors who attended Hellmouth Con went out of their way to thank the fandom for their enthusiasm, which allows for events like this to continue to take place decades after the shows ended.
Leary, Jones and Caulfield. Photo credit: Avery and Ollie Kaplan.
The next main auditorium panel we attended was “Beauty and the Beasts,” with Emma Caulfield (Anyanka/Anya Jenkins), Doug Jones (one of the lead Gentlemen from “Hush”) and James C. Leary (Clement). The panel was focused on acting while made-up in extensive prosthetics, an experience all three actors shared. Because all three characters are beloved by the fandom despite their varying screentime, the audience was eager to hear the many fascinating anecdotes. It was also fascinating to learn about how different each of their experiences with the prosthetics proved to be.
Kramer, Richards and Carpenter.
And the final panel we attended in the main auditorium as “Friends of the Buffyverse,” which was moderated by Kramer and featured J. August Richards (Charles Gunn) and Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia “Cordy” Chase). While we got plenty of interesting insights into filming Angel and Buffy, the real highlight of this panel was the interplay between Richards and Carpenter.
Additional Events
While we were a little late due to a delay in the previous panel, we also got to sit in on the last two thirds of “‘What is Your Childhood Trauma’: Neurodivergence, Neurodiversity, and Neurodisability in the Buffyverse.” Moderated by Dr. Valérie, a Ph.D. in Neuroscience, this panel took place in the smaller auditorium and featured an interesting analysis of the Buffy characters. It also included a lot of audience participation, which the audience seemed to relish.
Another major component of the con were the photo ops, which featured actors from the shows. As you can imagine, having the con at an actual shooting location meant this was just about as authentic a picture as you could hope for. These ops were ticketed events, so we did not attend any of them firsthand.
There were other ticketed events too, like the “I’m in Starch Heaven: Angel Cast Breakfast” event. This was a catered breakfast with actors like Richards, Carpenter, Acker and Romanov rotating from table to table. We do wish that, as press, we were given access to some of these ticketed events, so we could report on them here. But suffice to say we are sure the fans who did buy tickets for these opportunities enjoyed themselves!
We also imagine that it would have been easy to run up quite the bill while attending the event. In addition to the price of admission (which also boasted a more expensively priced VIP badge option), there was the cost of the tickets for the additional events.
However, it is worth noting that the event is run by Fandom Charities Inc., a 100% volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Proceeds from the event benefited LGBTQ+ youth support through Rainbow Spaces, pancreatic cancer research via PanCAN (in honor of the late Buffyverse actor Camden Toy) and youth education through the Ron Glass Memorial Scholarship.
Life Isn’t Bliss, Life is Just This
As we mentioned earlier, the Buffy fandom has had a rough go of it as of late. Series creator and onetime Geek spokesman Joss Whedon has faded into the background in the wake of his personal misconduct having come to light. Once synonymous with the Buffyverse, Whedon was only mentioned once during any of the panels we attended, and incidentally, as Jones detailed the process of being cast as a Gentleman.
An “In Memoriam” poster for Anthony Head. Photo credit: Avery and Ollie Kaplan.
Meanwhile, several of the leading actors from the show have passed away. This includes the tragically young Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn Summers) in 2025 and the actor who played the show’s moral center and father figure, Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles), who died earlier this month. Giles was particularly well-remembered at the con, with cosplays, posters, t-shirts and a moment of silence at the outset of the day’s programming.
And then there’s the matter of the Buffy Hulu revival, which was canceled after a pilot was filmed. This comes after Slayers, an original audiobook sequel from Audible, was canceled after its first season in 2023.
Elsewhere, an animated Firefly revival has been announced, and a panel we didn’t attend at Hellmouth Con was dedicated to this project. However, we did find it interesting that, while there was plenty of Buffy cosplay, we saw no Firefly cosplay – in fact, we didn’t even see so much as a Firefly t-shirt. Perhaps there is less overlap between the fandoms of the two franchises as there had been once upon a time.
Hellmouth Con 2026
Probably the biggest disappointment of the day was our lunch, but perhaps we just chose the wrong food truck. We did think that it would have been fun if – either through the con itself or a special agreement with a food truck – they would have been offering Doublemeat Palace’s singular burgers. Sure, combining a beef patty and a chicken patty on a single sandwich will probably come out awful, but we would have been enthusiastic to give it a shot anyway!
The Ensigns Kaplan. Photo credit: Avery and Ollie Kaplan.
Altogether, we had a very enjoyable time at Hellmouth Con ’26. The panels we attended were fascinating, the celebrity guests seemed genuinely pleased to be there and the enthusiasm of the attendees was palpable. And as we mentioned before, the whole event was really tied together by the fact that it did take place at “Sunnydale High,” creating a singular and immersive environment for the festivities. Finally, donating the proceeds to several worthy charities was a wonderful way for the fandom to give back while celebrating the beloved series.
While we do hope for some increased press access in the future so we can bring you, dear reader, more in-depth coverage of the event, we have no hesitation in recommending Hellmouth Con to any Buffyverse fan who is nearby in Southern California or otherwise able to travel to the area for the weekend. And hopefully next year, the event will have some new, positive developments for the Buffyverse fandom to celebrate.
