These delightful photos were taken by Dirk Stiller, and are shared here with permission. Please do check out Dirk’s Con-Photos website for more!
See also the con details and some fan photos by bunnysworld on this page.
Rupert attended MagicCon 8 in Bonn throughout the convention, 26-28 September 2025.
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Rupert was his usual charming self in answering questions… Thanks to Bunnysworld for her report!
During a Q+A session, Bunnysworld asked, “We all know Colin wrote a book, and it’s about to be published… Bradley was also talking about writing a book… If you were writing a book, which genre could we look forward to reading?”
Rupert thought about it for a moment, then said, “A kids books. One of those adventure books. ‘If you want the character to do this and that, go to page 43. If you rather have them explore this… go to page so-and-so.’ Do you know what I mean?”
“Yes, I know what you mean. Thank you!” (And now we all really want to read that book).
Another fan asked him about his favorite Disney movies. They are… in this order… Encanto, Frozen and The Princess and the Frog.
“Speaking of Disney,” Bunnysworld followed this up with. “Disney princesses usually wear a special gown that sets them apart from everyone else. They can talk to animals.” I was ticking these off with my fingers and Rupert was nodding along. “And at some point, they do get their prince. So… is Merlin… a Disney princess?”
The room erupted in laughter, Rupert laughed really hard, then nodded and – his eyes shining – did a stage whisper “YES!”
During a Meet+Greet session, the fans talked about wishing the knights could get back together for another MagicCon, and Rupert said that would be so much fun and probably a good thing as people tend to like group shoots a lot more.
There were a few questions about Bridgerton and Death in Paradise.
Rupert said he liked that some stuff he has done deals with mental health. He thinks that people were drawn to Merlin so much because he was the overlooked person who did all the work and never got the credit and it was hard for Merlin dealing with that. Bunnysworld asked if that was the reason he did Dear Evan Hansen as well, and he said it was one of the main reasons and that it’s nice to imagine they did something good by having this show that at least opened up discussions about mental health.
At another Q+A, Bunnysworld said, “My friend just wondered when we will finally see the Merlin spin-off about Leon. Would it be ‘Leon – the early years’ or would it be ‘Leon – after Camlaan’?”
Rupert loved the idea of a Leon spin-off. He wasn’t sure which one he would like better but then decided that it would be fun to reunite the knights, so went for ‘Leon – after Camlaan’. He talked about how the actors were all still in touch, and it would be nice to get them all back together for a show. And then he started joking about how the scripts are in the making and we would hear it from him first when they start shooting.
Bunnysworld asked Rupert about being creative in his private life, whether painting or gardening or writing or something else.
Rupert had already said in a previous session that he really admires cosplayers as most of them have a day job and then create their costumes on such a professional level in their spare time. Now he said that his brother is the writer in the family, not him. Rupert tried to write music when he was younger and then noticed that most of his songs turned a bit naughty in the end. So, he said no, he isn’t a very creative person, he’s boring and mediocre.
“Never!” said Bunnysworld.
There was a lull in questions, so Bunnysworld approached the microphone again. Rupert grinned and said, “Oh, look, someone new!”
Bunnysworld asked about Rupert’s favorite character from Bridgerton (aside from Lord Featherington, of course). He didn’t have to think about that for too long and answered “Eloise”, because she tried to escape the norms and do her own thing.
At another session, Bunnysworld asked about the theatre show High Society, as they not only had to do a lot of singing and dancing, but also eating (they prepared fresh food on stage that they ate). So, she wondered if it doesn’t make the rest all the more difficult.
Rupert said the eating was the easiest part of all that. He talked a bit about the central stage and that the surrounding audience was so close to the performers that they could make out people’s faces. Whenever Rupert sang he had a talent for catching someone looking terribly bored like “OMG, this guy has to sing again” while he was doing a wonderful Cole Porter song and that was no fun – but basically he did that to himself, always finding that single face in every performance.
Bunnysworld asked if Rupert would like to narrate an audio book or if this is something he finds boring, just sitting there reading out loud an entire book.
He replied that he did some audio plays for the radio which he really enjoyed doing but he would be very interested in doing an audiobook. Depending on the book, of course, how long it is and such.
At the closing ceremony, Rupert was full of warm words about the convention, the atmosphere, that feeling of it all being a big family, as if everybody knew everybody else. So, hopefully, he really had a good time!
It certainly sounds as if the fans did.
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Photos kindly provided by bunnysworld!
Rupert attended the East European Comic Con in Bucharest, Romania on both days, 26-27 April 2025. Apparently as well as the usual guest activities, he acted as one of the stage hosts!
Photo courtesy of fellow fan bunnysworld.
Rupert was a guest at the convention Wales Comic Con in Telford, UK on 18-19 November 2023. He was joined by Alex Vlahos, who played the older Mordred in BBC Merlin.
I was lucky enough to attend! A real blessing, as I hadn’t seen Rupert since before the pandemic. He is, of course, still an absolute delight to chat with (and indeed to politely ogle).
Rupert was available for autographs throughout the con, and photo shoots on both days. He and Alex also participated in a Merlin-related panel on the Saturday.
Alas, Rupert confirmed that he won’t be appearing in the third season of Bridgerton. (Obviously I’ll just have to daydream about Jack returning to romance Lady Featherington!)
I’m delighted to report that he’s growing his Sir Leon hair out again! It was hidden under the usual baseball cap – emblazoned with another of his school badges, this time celebrating his ability to swim 50 metres!
Here are a few photos I took during the panel…
How I have missed that lovely smile!
Our awesome King Arthur, Bradley James, hosted an online Merlin quiz – partly to help entertain us during the COVID-19 quarantine and partly to help raise money for a noble cause. He invited the Knights of the Round Table to participate, so we ended up blessed with a mini online convention, with special guests Rupert (Sir Leon), Tom Hopper (Sir Percival), Tomiwa Edun (Sir Elyan) and Eoin Macken (Sir Gwaine).
The chosen charity was Redemption Paws @RedemptionPaws, a Toronto-based non-profit organisation focused on helping dogs in disaster situations. We raised over $15,000 (Canadian) for them, which is utterly awesome!
Bradley kindly uploaded a recording of the quiz to his YouTube channel, which was such a relief to people like me who regretted missing out on the fun! (I live in Australia, and I unwisely let the 4 a.m. start time dissuade me from participating.) Here’s the link:
Rupert was, of course, his usual funny and charming self, and proved himself delightfully human to boot! I mean to say… drinking what appeared to be a beer, saying “fuck”, and announcing he was off to have a wee. You’d be forgiven for thinking he isn’t a minor deity after all! I love the quarantine beard, but his lovely hair is still short, as contractually required by Dear Evan Hansen.
It was a joy to see all the knights gathered together once more, and to see them enjoying not only their own company but also ours. Tomiwa used a few Merlin and location photos as his background. Rupert changed his shirt a few times, as did Bradley – and Eoin gradually stripped away layers to reveal something pink and sultry… Oh my. The Merlin Family Rules!
The quiz had some easy questions, but also some harder ones. I think I would have got all but 2 or 3 – but who knows what silly choices I might have made at that time of the morning! Most people did very well, with only a handful of questions attracting a number of “alternate” choices.
I’ve included some screen captures below, but of course please do yourself the proverbial favour and watch the video itself.
Thank you, everyone, for taking part!
Rupert was a guest at London Comic Con Spring on Sunday 1 March, along with Tom Hopper (Percival in Merlin) who was there on both days.
My awesome friend Karen shared these photos from Rupert and Tom’s panel. You can see more via her Flickr account.
All photos taken by the awesome bunnysworld! (Shared with permission.)
Rupert was a guest at the convention German Castle Con in Solingen, Germany on 24-25 August 2019.
My fellow fan bunnysworld attended, and had a marvellous time. She was kind enough to share her photos of Rupert with me. You can see one in the banner of this post, and I’ve posted more to a gallery. ♥
You’ll see that on the Sunday he wears a baseball hat with an Ottilie Seed badge. Off I popped to Google, to discover that Ottlie Seed is a seed farm in Iowa. How random is that…?
You can also find a video of Rupert’s Q&A on the Saturday on YouTube (embedded below). He’s such a lovely guy!
… and I have to add that his bare ankles are delightfully distracting!
BBC Merlin was well represented at the MCM Comic Con, held in Birmingham on 23-24 March 2019. Guests included Asa Butterfield (young Mordred), Tom Hopper (Percival), Alex Vlahos (older Mordred) and our own Rupert Young.
Unfortunately I couldn’t attend the con (having been exiled to the Antipodes) but my mate Shell did, along with her lovely family. They asked Rupert ♥ for an autograph for me, which was awesome! Thanks to my friends, I was definitely there in spirit.
Shell blogged about the day on her site The Copper River. This includes photos, and a link to the official live stream so that we can all enjoy the panel held on Saturday.
Thank you again, Shell!
Rupert attended EM-Con Worcester on 8 April 2018. While the con was a bit busier than the previous one in Kent, Rupert took the time to have a good chat with all the fans who came his way. He’s such a great guy to meet!
He didn’t take part in any panels this time, but there were autographs available and a photo shoot. I took the opportunity to ask for a ‘portrait’ shot of just him, as well as one of me with him. Here’s a scanned and cropped version for your delectation…
Isn’t he lovely? ♥ Once I have the full version, I’m wondering how best to use it for the site. Are splash screens terribly passé these days…?
