Richard T. Jones Is Bringing Three Decades of Television to Comic Con Africa 2026

From The Rookie to Judging Amy and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Richard T. Jones has spent more than three decades becoming one of television’s most recognisable faces. This September, South African fans finally get to meet him in Johannesburg.

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Some actors become familiar before audiences ever learn their names.

In September, more than three decades of television history come into the room.

Richard T. Jones is one of them.

Across more than three decades of television, the American actor has moved through police procedurals, legal dramas, science fiction, horror and some of the most recognisable series of their respective eras. For a generation of viewers who have encountered him in everything from Judging Amy and Girlfriends to Narcos, Hawaii Five-0 and The Rookie, his face carries its own kind of television memory.

In September, that career comes into the room.

Jones has been announced as an international guest for Comic Con Africa 2026, appearing at the Johannesburg event from Friday, 25 September to Sunday, 27 September.

His arrival is particularly significant for fans of The Rookie, where he has played Wade Grey since the ABC series began in 2018. Grey is one of the show’s institutional anchors — the experienced authority figure operating within a series built around Nathan Fillion’s John Nolan and the unpredictable lives of officers inside its fictionalised LAPD world.

But focusing only on The Rookie would miss what makes Jones an interesting Comic Con guest.

His career stretches back to the early 1990s, with television appearances in series including NYPD Blue, Courthouse and Dangerous Minds. He became part of the main cast of Brooklyn South as Officer Clement Johnson before taking on Matt Griffin in Ally McBeal.

Then came one of the defining stretches of his television career.

For six seasons, Jones played Bruce Calvin van Exel in Judging Amy, placing him inside a drama that became a fixture of early-2000s television. He later appeared in Girlfriends, before stepping into a very different world as FBI agent James Ellison in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

That ability to move between genres became something of a pattern.

Over the years, Jones has appeared in Grey’s Anatomy, Bones, Hawaii Five-0, American Horror Story: Hotel, Narcos and Criminal Minds. His film résumé has been just as varied, stretching from Event Horizon and Kiss the Girls to Why Did I Get Married?, Super 8, Godzilla and Concussion.

It means his Comic Con Africa appearance is not attached to a single fandom.

There are viewers who know him as Wade Grey. Others remember James Ellison. Some will recognise Bruce van Exel immediately. Film fans may have encountered him somewhere entirely different.

That overlap is part of what conventions like Comic Con increasingly represent. Pop culture is no longer divided as neatly between the television fan, the comic reader, the gamer or the film obsessive. The same audiences move between all of them, carrying characters and performances across years of their lives.

Jones has built the kind of career that sits naturally inside that crossover.

During his three days at Comic Con Africa, he is expected to participate in live stage discussions where fans will be able to ask questions about his work and life behind major television productions.

There will also be autograph and professional photograph opportunities for attendees, with those experiences requiring additional tickets.

For South African fans, however, the attraction is more than collecting a signature.

There is something unusual about meeting an actor whose work has quietly followed television audiences through several different eras. Jones has moved from the network-TV dominance of the 1990s and early 2000s into the streaming age without becoming trapped inside one defining character.

And now, more than 30 years after his earliest television appearances, he remains part of a major ongoing series.

That longevity may ultimately be the most interesting story he brings to Johannesburg.

Comic Con Africa 2026 takes place from 24 to 27 September at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in Nasrec, with doors open from 09:00 to 18:00 daily. Richard T. Jones is scheduled to appear from Friday, 25 September through Sunday, 27 September.

Reporting basis: Based on Comic Con Africa announcement material supplied to Viranova, current Howler guest-experience listings for Richard T. Jones, Comic Con Africa’s official 2026 event information, ABC and Disney General Entertainment Press’s official Richard T. Jones biography, and Viranova editorial analysis of television longevity, fandom and convention culture.

Reporting & Standards

Human-written · Editor-reviewed · Corrections open

Written by Viranova Entertainment Desk · Television, Science Fiction & Fan Convention · More from Viranova Entertainment Desk

Filed by Viranova Entertainment Desk for the Entertainment desk · Johannesburg, South Africa. Published 20 Aug 2026.

Sources

Primary material

Viranova obtained, attended or witnessed this directly.

1. Richard T. Jones is scheduled to appear at Comic Con Africa 2026 from Friday 25 September to Sunday 27 September Comic Con Africa / Howler accessed 20 August 2026
2. Howler lists dedicated Richard T. Jones professional photo and autograph sessions on all three days of his Comic Con Africa appearance Comic Con Africa / Howler accessed 20 August 2026

Secondary material

Reported first by another publication or organisation, and credited here.

1. Comic Con Africa 2026 takes place from 24 to 27 September at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in Nasrec Comic Con Africa accessed 20 August 2026
2. Comic Con Africa operates from 09:00 to 18:00 during the Johannesburg event Comic Con Africa accessed 20 August 2026
3. Richard T. Jones currently plays Wade Grey in ABC's The Rookie and has starred in Judging Amy, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Brooklyn South, Narcos, American Horror Story: Hotel and other television series ABC accessed 20 August 2026
4. Jones' film career includes Event Horizon, Kiss the Girls, Why Did I Get Married?, Super 8, Godzilla and Concussion Disney General Entertainment Press accessed 20 August 2026

Further reading and references

• Primary source — comiccon.howler.co.za

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