Grade 11 learner to star in Showmax’s Spooksoeker adaptation

Rico Immelman, a 17-year-old grade 11 learner at Noordheuwel High School in Krugersdorp in Gauteng, has landed his first leading role in a TV series. 

Rico will star as Warno Alberts in the Showmax Original teen series Spooksoeker, based on the bestselling books by multi-award winner François Bloemhof. 

When Warno Alberts turns 15, he suddenly becomes aware of ghosts in his dorpie – and that it’s now his job to banish them. 

The casting announcement comes as Rico attends the 60th ATKV Tienertoneel, the Afrikaans high school theatre competition taking place in Cape Town this week. 

Rico is one of the finalists in the ATKV-DigiToneel competition, in which high school students get the opportunity to develop their game for the camera by filming monologues.

As part of this, he’ll also appear in the fourth season of ATKV’s acting reality series, Gekies vir die Kollig, which airs on DStv (VIA, channel 147) from mid-October.

“I’ve always taken part in eisteddfods – in fact, I’ve taken part in every single thing possible, and I’ve always, for as long as I can remember, just wanted to be on stage,” says Rico, who signed up with an acting agency, Talent-ETC, in Grade 6 and has already appeared in David Kau’s The First Last Tour, the Silwerskerm short film Bennie Bingo, the kykNET Storiefilm Die Fantastiese Verdwyning Van Charlie Prins, and as the young Kalla in 7de Laan. 

Rico was nominated for Best Actor at last year’s ATKV Tienertoneel, with his play in the top 5. In Spooksoeker, he’ll be starring opposite the Best Actor winner, Paul Strydom, who plays Warno’s older brother Ziaan. Paul, now 19, matriculated from Parel Vallei High School last year. 

While details are still under wraps, Rico and Paul will be supported by a stacked cast that includes multiple SAFTA and Silwerskerm winners – some as ghosts… “It’s people I dreamed of working with, people I watched on TV as a little boy and said, ‘Gee, I want to work with her one day…’”

He uses Izel Bezuidenhout as his example. “I watched Agent 2000 when it came out; I think I was about 11 years old, in Grade 5. So on Spooksoeker, I was literally acting opposite my childhood crush!” he says, laughing. 

The Starscape Motion Pictures production team has assembled an equally star-studded lineup behind the camera, including director Jan-Hendrik Burger (Edik van Nantes), SXSW Zeiss Cinematography Award winner Jorrie van der Walt (Gaia), SAFTA-winning composer Daniel Eppel (Steinheist), and SAFTA winners Franci van den Heeven (Fynskrif, Die Byl) and Pippa Heimann (Suidooster) on production and wardrobe design respectively. 

The VFX will be handled by Fox and Wizard, led by Jonathan Alenskas, who was nominated for a Visual Effects Society Award for his work on Warrior and has contributed effects to the likes of Plan B, The Gilded Age, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and the Venice Film Festival Audience Award winner Blue Jean.

The scale of the production came as a shock to Rico, especially the stunt work. “We had people jumping off bridges; I did not expect that at all,” says Rico. “Also just the quality of the filming and the production team’s work, how everyone works so well together. I was dumbfounded.”

Rico found his character very relatable. “Warno is someone who cares a lot about the people around him. He is really afraid of hurting them – emotionally or physically. Throughout the series, many people want to hurt Warno, but he only wants to protect everyone around him. But the way he tries to do it actually puts everyone in more danger. So, by doing what he thinks is right, and what he thinks will protect his family and friends, he sometimes makes the situation worse. 

“I would say I am just like Warno. I care a lot about the people around me and I always try to do the right thing, but sometimes life throws you down and you struggle to get back up. But a good value that Warno has is that no matter how many times he gets knocked down, he doesn’t give up. In the middle of the season, there is a part where Warno really almost gives up and he doesn’t know what to do next, but then he just gets back on the horse. And I feel this is a good value that I can also implement in my life.”

Now that Spooksoeker has wrapped, Rico’s focus will be catching up on his schoolwork. When asked about his future goals, he says, “First of all, I’m just going to finish matric!”

Spooksoeker won’t be Rico’s last leading role though. “I definitely want to stay in the industry, work more and create more magic on stage and in front of the camera,” says Rico, who started the year competing in his age group at the world championships for double mini-trampoline gymnastics. “I still don’t know if I want to study, but I know that I want to be in front of a camera and on stage forever.”

Spooksoeker is expected to launch on Showmax in December 2024.