It would have been perfectly understandable if Warner Bros. had decided not to move forward with the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory prequel it first announced back in 2016. But the studio’s still keen on bringing the world’s second-most unsettling candy man back to the big screen with a new story.
Deadline reports that Dune’s Timothée Chalamet has signed onto director Paul King’s upcoming film about a young Willy Wonka in the years before he became an infamous reclusive who lured children into his home under the auspices of gifting one of them control of his sprawling candy empire. Details of the new film’s story, written by Simon Farnaby, are currently scare, but Chalamet will reportedly “show off his singing and dancing skills” in a handful of musical numbers, suggesting that this won’t necessarily be an overerious exploration of a ridiculous character we already know plenty about.
There’s no word on who else might be cast or when production might start. But Warner Bros.’ wanting Chalamet for the central role, and the actor apparently being very serious about training up for it, could mean that the movie ends up being something worth checking out when it hits theatres on March 17, 2023.