Caleb McLaughlin, one of Hollywood’s most exciting young stars, is expanding his artistic horizons into the world of audio storytelling. Best known for his Emmy Award-winning role as Lucas Sinclair in Netflix’s global phenomenon “Stranger Things,” which concludes with its highly anticipated fifth season in 2025, McLaughlin has earned critical acclaim across multiple platforms. His impressive resume includes starring roles in Lee Daniels’ supernatural thriller “The Deliverance,” Jeymes Samuel’s biblical epic “The Book of Clarence,” and Netflix’s “Concrete Cowboy” opposite Idris Elba.
The multi-talented performer, who began his career as the longest-running Young Simba in Broadway’s “The Lion King,” has seamlessly transitioned between stage, screen, and music. Now, McLaughlin is lending his voice to “Sacrilege: Curse of the Mbirwi,” an Afrofuturistic horror audio drama that explores themes of family, identity, and confronting the unknown.
In this audio book, McLaughlin voices D’Shaun Wallace, a bratty teenager whose actions awaken an ancient evil spirit during his family’s first trip to Africa. The project represents a new intersection of Afrofuturism and horror, combining cultural exploration with supernatural elements as an African-American family searches for their roots while battling dark forces.
The NAACP Image Award winner and DIOR beauty ambassador reflects on his artistic growth, the unique challenges of voice acting, and the deeper meanings behind his latest creative venture.
What’s it like to be at this point in your career, stunning at events like the Met Gala and now taking on this cultural revolution in Afrofuturism?
It is a roller coaster. I mean, even for myself, just as in my personal life, I’m just growing and learning. Just blessed to be in the position I am in as like career wise or just even as a person, just like with my family, with myself, with God.
Being able to just express myself through art, fashion, even this Audible that we’re talking about today and why I am signed on, just to talk about Afrofuturism, I guess that is the new thing, with Afro beats, but like even just the horror genre and intertwining that with Sacrilege and Mbirwi, this African-American family going into Africa for the first time, trying to find themselves. My character, Dashon, his name is Dashon Wallace and kind of is like this ignorant, bratty teenager that awakens this evil and then curses his family and awakens this evil spirit and has to face this demon. It’s interesting.
What’s the range of emotions you were able to explore and learn about yourself through this audio journey?
At least for this one, it was a real stretch. Different experience. I’ve done voiceovers before. But with the Audible, it’s just voice. Your listeners are dialed in and they’re just listening to what you have to say.
Every word, your tone, your question, statement, had to be represented, had to be expressed. I’ve done other voiceovers where animation kind of helps that expression and you’re seeing the visual but it’s just like, no, you’re dialed in and you’re listening. So, the story, the writing had to be universal, had to make sense.
What really drew me to the story as well was just like Deshaun, he has this present day version of himself, like going through the story with his family, his experience within himself and his adventure in Africa. But then you have the narrated version that kind of like knows what is and what’s going to happen. And having listeners listen to like the differentiation of like the narrator and the present day version of him. I had to show like the tone. Even the words that he uses is different from the narrated version.
It was like a real experience, like going back and forth with Nyasha, the director to make sure like, are we saying the right words? Is this the right tone for this? Did I make the right breath in this moment? Then he was like, all right, there’s going to be this sound in the background. You have to say this line a second later. Making sure the listener was immersed into the story.
And to answer it for anybody that wants to do this, I guess it’s just like, if you love it, you’ll be fine. If you love it and you believe in artistry and believe in storytelling and talking about nuanced topics in this genre, in this way, in this fictional like horrific way, it’s fun.
What has it been like to paint your life in art in the ways that you’ve grown into being an artist and a painter of life?
Growing up, it was more like I had a dream when I was sleeping and I’m like, OK, I dreamt I was flying now I’m going to go outside and try to jump off this tree and fly. And I never did that. Don’t do this, kids.
But I remember up till like I was fifteen, I had like this Captain America shield and I had this Batman mask and I thought I was like a superhero and I made it up. And I was fifteen doing that. And I felt that, like that’s what storytelling is. I was telling a story through just my life.
And that’s how I feel now. I just feel like these are just stories I’m having fun with and telling it through my life. I’m in a different stage right now in my life where I’m in my early twenties. I’ve been a legal adult since I was 18, but I consider it like twenty-one.
I feel like I’m growing and my experiences are changing. I’m traveling the world. I’m meeting different people. And I’m like, there’s so many different stories I hear and there’s so many different ways we can tell it. And I think it’s wonderful as long as it’s about creating. I think we all create in our own ways. And I chose that way of expressing myself through film, TV, theater and music.
What would you say is the main reason for people to check out this audio book?
I say there’s so much to take away from it. It’s a love story. It’s a horror. It’s a drama. It’s a lot of gems in there. And also it’s just a great, wonderful like emotional experience.
But one thing I can say is that in life, we always try to find the answer to something. And we’re living life, we are always trying to control something. We’re trying to know, like I want to know what that is. Then you end up knowing it, but then there’s always something else to know. And we have to realize, sometimes you have to learn how to be at peace with just not knowing, because like there’s so many different things in the world. There’s so many different things to know.
I think that’s what’s beautiful about life. It’s like we’re always trying to find something, always trying to be better than we were the day before or create something and get to the next level. But there’s always a different level. And I just say, sometimes you just have to get to that point where you have to be at peace with where you are at in your life and you’re going to have to face your fears sometimes, your traumas or you’re going to be happy, you’re going to be sad.
And I think with the Mbirwi, that’s what it kind of represents. Facing that trauma, facing your demons or just facing the unknown and being okay with it sometimes.
“Sacrilege: Curse of the Mbirwi” is available on Audible.
