Caleb McLaughlin attends the Los Angeles premiere of Columbia Pictures' and Sony Pictures Animation's "GOAT" at AMC Century City 15 on February 06, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. Amy Sussman/Getty Images Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text Just six weeks after closing the basement door on Stranger Things, Caleb McLaughlin is back with GOAT, his biggest movie to date. The 24-year-old voices the title character in Sony Pictures Animation's latest film, furthering the highly impressive streak they've been on with the Oscar-winning Spider-Verse trilogy and the Oscar-nominated KPop Demon Hunters. The literal goat in question is Will Harris, whose dreams of playing professional roarball are dampened by his undersized frame. The game is a version of basketball in which robust animals play hoops within their unique biomes. One day, Will goes viral after embarrassing ROAR league MVP, Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre), during a streetball challenge, prompting his favorite team, the Vineland Thorns, to sign him to a season-ending contract in a desperate attempt to juice ticket sales. Related Stories Lifestyle 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow' Star Louis McCartney on Saying Goodbye and That Viral Jamie Campbell Bower Cameo TV Streaming Ratings: 'The Pitt' Begins Season 2 With Series High McLaughlin is no stranger to underdog stories that are produced by NBA greats. He previously played LeBron James' best friend and former teammate, Dru Joyce III, in the James-produced Shooting Stars (2023), which chronicled the NBA superstar's decorated high school basketball team in Akron, Ohio. The Tyree Dillihay-directed GOAT also counts James' fellow NBA icon and Olympic teammate, Stephen Curry, as a producer and voice actor. These fictional underdog stories remind McLaughlin of one of his own formative experiences where he and another child actor were accidentally double-booked to play the same role in a movie. McLaughlin was subsequently asked to serve as a dancer instead of an actor, and while he held his head up high in the moment, the emotion and humiliation he felt that day only fueled him going forward. "I remember going to the bathroom and crying. I said to myself, 'I don't want to ever feel like this again. I'm not going to let it happen,'" McLaughlin tells The Hollywood Reporter in support of GOAT's Feb. 13 theatrical release. "There was growth in that moment. I got stronger and I got better because of that underdog situation." Of course, the tears he shed that day would soon be replaced by the elation of landing an integral role on what would become the most popular streaming series of all time in Stranger Things. McLaughlin recently joined co-stars Finn Wolfhard and Gaten Matarazzo on SNL to poke fun at a viral fan theory that emerged following the Dec. 31 series finale. Dubbed "Conformity Gate," fans speculated that the final episode's 35-minute epilogue was really just an illusion created by the mind-controlling big bad, Vecna, paving the way for the real finale the following week. However, it was all a grand case of apophenia, as humans have a tendency to create patterns out of disparate points. Initially, McLaughlin thought the theory was short-sighted. But he's since come to the conclusion that Stranger Things fans were coping with the loss of the beloved show in the same way that the characters were coping with the loss of their dear friend, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), by adopting the far-fetched belief that there's more to the story. In reality, McLaughlin - like his frequent scene partner, Sadie Sink - is convinced that "El" is dead and gone. "At first, I thought the 'Conformity Gate' theory was dumb. I get that people want to live in this optimistic place of, 'Oh, we want more Stranger Things,' but I was like, 'Guys, it's over. It's been ten years,'" McLaughlin says. "I think people missed the concept of what the show is when they were like, 'Oh, there's going to be more.' No, that's just Mike's imagination. That's who he's always been, even in season one. It's all just storytelling." Below, during a recent conversation with THR, McLaughlin also discusses how he shot Stranger Things 5 without knowing that his co-star David Harbour was also a part of GOAT's decorated voice cast. *** GOAT is your first project in a post-Stranger Things world. How are you feeling as you head into this new era? I'm loving it. I appreciate my past, and it's projected me to where I am today. So I'm really happy that I'm starting off the new year, and life after Stranger Things, with GOAT. Will (Caleb McLaughlin) in Columbia Pictures and Sony Picture Animation's Goat. Sony Pictures Did you record your goat character named Will during your downtime on Stranger Things 5? Yeah, I filmed Stranger Things and recorded GOAT at the same tim