AUSTIN, Texas — South by Southwest has announced the addition of some pretty big names to its 2018 speakers list — the cast of “This is Us,” Common, Katie Couric, Lyor Cohen and Lena Waithe to name a few.

Here's who is on the docket for next year's festival, March 9-18, 2018: 

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Lyor Cohen (Music): Cohen is an American music industry executive, currently serving as Global Head of Music at YouTube and Google where he oversees domestic and international music partnerships as well as artist and label relations. He is also founder of 300, a music content company.

Cohen joins previously announced keynote speakers Darren Aronofsky (Film), Ta-Nehisi Coates (Convergence), Barry Jenkins (Film), Sadiq Khan (Convergence), Esther Perel (Interactive) and whurley (Convergence).

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Alex Chung (Brands & Marketing): Alex Chung is the founder and CEO of GIPHY, the people who bring you all the GIFs. Before founding Giphy he was a Hacker in Residence at Betaworks and directed media technology for companies such as MTV, Viacom, and Comcast, managed research for Paul Allen’s R&D lab, and started his career as a hardware engineer at Intel.

‘The Chi’ Session (Entertainment Influencers): Showtime’s “The Chi” is a coming-of-age story that follows six interrelated characters linked by coincidence that takes place in Chicago’s South Side. Speaking at this panel will be executive producer Common; creator, writer and executive producer Lena Waithe; and actors Jacob Latimore, and Jason Mitchell for a conversation about the upcoming drama.

Katie Couric (News & Journalism): Couric is an award-winning journalist, cancer advocate and New York Times best-selling author.

"Following the success of Gender Revolution, Couric is partnering with National Geographic on a six part documentary series airing in spring 2018 that takes a deep dive into the revolutionary changes and major social issues of our time,” SXSW’s press release said.

Kim Deal + Steve Albini (Music Culture & Stories): Kim Deal is a songwriter and musician, known for her work as the bassist of the alternative rock band the Pixies and the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for The Breeders. Studio engineer Steve Albini has recorded rock albums from The Breeders, Nirvana, PJ Harvey, The Jesus Lizard, The Stooges, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, and hundreds more. He owns and runs his analog studio, Electrical Audio, in Chicago and performs with his band, Shellac.

Peter Diamandis (Startup & Tech Sectors): Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, in 2014, was named one of "The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders" by Fortune Magazine.  Diamandis is founder and executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation. He is also the co-founder and vice-chairman of Human Longevity Inc., a genomics and cell therapy-based diagnostic and therapeutic company focused on extending the human lifespan.

Bethenny Frankel (Social Impact): You may know her from the Bravo show “Real Housewives of New York,” but you should know her as entrepreneur Bethenny Frankel because she has been crazy prolific. Most recently, her charity B Strong’s efforts raised an expected value of over $4 million in relief efforts for Puerto Rico.

Bozoma Saint John (Brands & Marketing): Bozoma Saint John is the chief brand officer for Uber. Most recently, Boz was the Head of Global Consumer Marketing for Apple Music and iTunes.

Shakey Graves with Bodie Johnson, Janelle Browning and Keith Levy (Music Industry): In this session, musician Shakey Graves (Alejandro Rose-Garcia) and his team will share insights into their journey within the music industry and the steps made to build a lasting career.

‘This Is Us’ Featured Session (Entertainment Influencers): Grab the tissues if this panel is anything like the show. “This Is Us” follows the Pearson family of Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) as parents in the 80s to their 37-year-old kids Kevin (Justin Hartley), Kate (Chrissy Metz) and adopted son Randall (Sterling K. Brown). Join the cast for a look at the Emmy Award-winning drama.