ASTANA — Comic Con Astana 2026 drew more than 76,000 visitors from 40 countries over four days, underscoring the growing popularity of pop culture in Kazakhstan and the festival’s expanding international profile.
Comic Con Astana 2026. Photo Credit: Comic Con Astana 2026 Press Service
Held from Aug. 6 to 9, the festival brought together fans of films, TV series, comics, gaming and cosplay across two venues: Barys Arena and Alau Ice Palace. The program included meetings with international stars, Q&A sessions, an international cosplay competition with a 20 million tenge prize pool, gaming tournaments, workshops and other activities.
This year’s international headliners included “Game of Thrones” star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, “Peaky Blinders” actor Paul Anderson, and “One Piece” stars Iñaki Godoy and Taz Skylar.
International stars discover Kazakhstan
For several international guests, Comic Con Astana marked their first visit to Kazakhstan.
Mexican actor Iñaki Godoy, known for playing Monkey D. Luffy in Netflix’s “One Piece” adaptation, shared his first impressions of Astana.
Godoy said he was particularly impressed by Astana’s distinctive architecture, mentioning the Nur Alem pavilion at EXPO and Khan Shatyr.
“I haven’t seen much of Astana yet. But when I went into one of the shopping malls, I saw this huge sphere right next to it. I also got to see the giant tent. It’s really impressive. I’d love to see even more interesting places,” the actor said.
Iñaki Godoy, known for playing Monkey D. Luffy in Netflix’s One Piece adaptation. Photo Credit: Comic Con Astana 2026 Press Service
During his Q&A session, Godoy also spoke about working on One Piece and said he would like to see Kazakhstan become one of the filming locations for the series. He noted that some storylines in One Piece feature nomadic themes, which could make Kazakhstan an interesting location for future productions.
“I would really love to come back here, and I would really love to film here,” Godoy said.
British actor Paul Anderson, known for his role as Arthur Shelby in “Peaky Blinders”, also visited Kazakhstan for the first time.
Peaky Blinders actor Paul Anderson. Photo Credit: Comic Con Astana 2026 Press Service
“I was really impressed when we drove in from the airport to the hotel. What I saw outside the window… I honestly thought I’d landed in Los Angeles,” Anderson said.
One of the festival’s main headliners was Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, internationally known for playing Jaime Lannister in “Game of Thrones”.
His visit to Kazakhstan was also his first.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau during a press conference. Photo credit: Comic Con Astana 2026 Press Service.
“This is my first visit to Kazakhstan, to Astana. I have to say, it’s a very big country. Wonderful food, especially the meat. Today I ate more of it than I have in the last three years,” Coster-Waldau said.
When asked where Kazakhstan might fit into the world of “Game of Thrones”, Coster-Waldau drew a parallel with the two powerful sides of the fictional universe.
“If we’re thinking in “Game of Thrones” categories, Kazakhstan would probably be kind of in the middle between two very powerful neighbours. So it would kinda be somewhere between the Lannisters and the Dothraki lands, like very diplomatic. And making each side believe that they are their best friends,” he said.
Coster-Waldau also expressed interest in discovering Kazakh cinema and praised the landscapes of the Mangystau region. His conversation with fans also touched on artificial intelligence, a technology that is increasingly becoming part of Kazakhstan’s creative landscape.
When asked about the use of AI in filmmaking, Coster-Waldau said he sees it primarily as a tool rather than a replacement for human creativity.
“I think AI can be used as a tool, and it should be used as a tool,” the actor said.
At the same time, he stressed that key creative decisions should remain in the hands of artists.
“When we talk about filmmaking, the entire creative process should remain in the hands of the creators, in the hands of artists,” Coster-Waldau said.
That discussion found a practical continuation at Comic Con Astana 2026 with the presentation of “Tengrida: Cyber Steppe”, a Kazakh art film created with AI as one of its production tools.
Tengrida: from a cosplay character to a new universe
The festival hosted the first public screening of a three-minute AI-animated episode titled “Arena,” which introduces a new original fictional universe.
Tengrida. Photo Credit: Comic Con Astana 2026 Press Service
The story follows Tengrida, a young woman who enters a techno-clan arena to fight for justice. In a future where technology has replaced much of human memory and brutal fights have become mass entertainment, she faces a warrior named Kanjar while trying to help people see the truth again.
The character was created by Almaty-based cosplayer Aruzhan Zhunusova, known as Aruvibez. Tengrida’s story began in 2025, when Zhunusova presented the original cosplay character at Comic Con Astana, combining elements of Kazakh national style with a futuristic aesthetic.
According to Zhunusova, the audience’s reaction was the moment she realized the cosplay character could become something much bigger.
“So many people came up to me, took photos and wrote to me. And I realised that I had found some kind of response in people’s hearts. I didn’t want to limit it to just one festival. I wanted to create something much bigger, ” Zhunusova told The Astana Times.
This led to the idea of developing an entire universe around the character.
“In the end, we decided to start with an animated video using AI, as we want to take part in the AI film festival, and then gradually reveal the character and her universe. It could be comics, games, feature films. So I think this is only the beginning,” she said.
Zhunusova describes Tengrida as a “Kazakh warrior from the future” who fights for justice and truth.
The production of “Tengrida: Cyber Steppe” took around four to five months. For the directors, the project was also their first major experience working with AI animation and a fantasy aesthetic. According to Zhunusova, the first two months were spent developing the project’s visual language and experimenting with the technology.
Despite the use of AI, the film was not created with a single automated process. Individual scenes were generated in short fragments, after which the team manually reviewed and approved the material.
“We didn’t generate it all at once. We worked in five-second fragments. Then we approved everything, put it together, edited it and worked on the sound design,” Zhunusova explained.
Zhunusova believes AI does not replace the creative team in the project, but expands its possibilities.
“I believe that if AI is in the hands of a professional, it can be used as a great tool,” she said.
From fan festival to creative industry platform
The festival has steadily expanded its international profile, welcoming stars such as Mads Mikkelsen, Andy Serkis, Pilou Asbæk, Scott Adkins, Esai Morales, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn, Percy Hynes White and Alexander Kuznetsov over the years.
Its international cosplay competition has also become a major part of the program, attracting participants from more than 20 countries. This year, 64 finalists competed across 20 categories for a total prize pool of 20 million tenge.
Thousands of visitors attend Comic Con Astana 2026, which drew more than 76,000 guests from 40 countries. Photo credit: Comic Con Astana 2026 Press Service.
According to the festival’s General Producer Natalia Abrashkina, Comic Con Astana is increasingly becoming a platform for the development of the creative industries.
“Comic Con Astana is much more than a festival. It is an international platform that brings the industry together, creates new opportunities for talented people and contributes to the development of Kazakhstan’s creative economy,” Abrashkina said.
She stressed that the festival aims not only to attract international stars, but also to promote Kazakh authors, artists, cosplayers and content creators internationally.
The story of Tengrida offers one example of this shift. A character created for a cosplay competition has, within a year, evolved into a screen project using AI and the foundation for a potential universe that could eventually extend beyond animation into comics, games and film.
For Comic Con Astana, that trajectory points to a broader evolution: from bringing global pop culture to Kazakhstan to giving local creators a platform to build stories and intellectual properties of their own.
