Rising star Joshwin Dyson is hunting for ghosts in Spooksoeker

Joshwin Dyson is on a roll. He won Best Supporting Actor at Silwerskerm last year as Elvin in Old Righteous Blues, selected as South Africa’s Oscar entry in October 2024. At the start of November, he was up for two Aardklop Awards for Ken Jy Vir Dewie? and Laaitie Mettie Biscuits. And from 5 December 2024, he’s starring in his first Showmax Original series, Spooksoeker, after the casting director, SAFTA-nominated actress Ira Blanckenberg, spotted him in Ken Jy Vir Dewie? at this year’s KKNK and invited him to audition.  

Based on the bestselling young adult novels by multi-award winner François Bloemhof, Spooksoeker follows Warno Alberts, who suddenly becomes aware of ghosts in his dorpie when he turns 15 – and that it’s now his job to banish them. 

Dyson plays Allies, whose friendship with Warno (2023 Tienertoneel finalist Rico Immelman) is at the centre of the show. “Allies doesn’t have many friends, but his best friend is Warno and they are very close,” says Dyson. “He is that one friend that everyone has in their life, who is there for you. The one who will do anything to protect you, and loves you very much.”

This is important, because Warno clearly needs protection. “Allies has a special talent, if you can call it that,” says Dyson. “He gets visions of things that are going to happen.”

Allies is being raised by his grandmother, played by SAFTA winner June van Merch (Hans Steek Die Rubicon Oor, Sara Se Geheim, Die Boekklub). 

“Allies’ grandmother was also in the business of ghosts for many years but wants nothing to do with it anymore,” he says. “But now her grandson is involved…”

Watch the trailer for Spooksoeker

Dyson is 22, whereas Allies is a 15-year-old high school student. But they have a lot in common. “Allies is one of those learners who does all his work, and I also always did my work. He loves his friends very much and he loves his grandmother very much and he will put them before himself because he cares about them very, very much. Those are things I can relate to.”

“Another thing we share is how passionate we are about things we love. He is very passionate about anything he undertakes, even if he is a little scared. As the series progresses, the viewers will experience his journey and see how brave he becomes.”

But some parts of the character were easier to relate to than others. ”Allies is a geeky guy: he develops apps for him and Warno to play around on. Not that I’m stupid, but Allies is very smart,” he says, laughing. “I don’t develop apps like he does; I have no idea how to do it. And I don’t get visions either.”

Another key difference is that Allies lives in his head a lot. “Before he does anything, he thinks first,” says Dyson. “He’s sceptical about everything.”

In some ways, he found Spooksoeker more challenging than Old Righteous Blues. ”With television work, like with Spooksoeker, it is more challenging to focus on the story because it is divided into episodes with different storylines,” he says. “So sometimes you shoot a scene from episode 2 and then the next scene is from episode 11. So it’s much more challenging to keep your focus. When it comes to a movie, it is slightly easier because it is one story.”

Another challenge was needing to fill in the gaps left for the extensive visual effects, being 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 Audience Award winner Blue Jean. “As an actor, you have to use your imagination, but with this it was several levels up,” he says, laughing again. 

After starring in a series like Spooksoeker, we ask him if he believes in ghosts. “It’s such a simple, yet such a complicated question,” he laughs. “Uhm… I would say, ‘Yes and no’. Because sometimes in the evenings, I’m afraid to walk into my house when it’s dark, but other nights I’m brave. So I would say, yes and no.”