Wonka: Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, & more join the scrumdiddlyumptious prequel

The cast for Warner Bros.’ Wonka is getting more delicious by the day. Sally Hawkins (Paddington, The Shape of Water), Rowan Atkinson (Rat Race, Mr. Bean), Olivia Colman (The Favourite, The Crown), and Jim Carter (Shakespeare in Love, Downton Abbey) are among the newest cast members for the musical prequel.

They join cast members Mathew Baynton (The Wrong Mans, Ghosts), Tom Davis (Paddington 2, King Gary), Simon Farnaby (the Paddington films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Rich Fulcher (Marriage Story, Disenchantment, Matt Walsh’s High Road), Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Paddington 2, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Mary Poppins Returns), Paterson Joseph (Vigil, Noughts + Crosses), Emmy and Peabody Award winner Keegan-Michael Key (The Prom, Schmigadoon), Calah Lane (The Day Shall Come), Matt Lucas (Paddington, Little Britain), Colin O’Brien (The Mothership), Natasha Rothwell (White Lotus, Insecure), Rakhee Thakrar (Sex Education, Four Weddings and a Funeral) and Ellie White (The Other One, The Windsors), with Timothée Chalamet playing the candyman himself, Willy Wonka.

Wonka is set to tell the story of a young Willy Wonka and how he met the Oompa-Loompas on one of his earliest adventures. Paddington‘s Paul King is slated to direct from a script he co-wrote with Simon Farnaby. In charge of writing original songs for the musical is Neil Hannon of the band The Divine Comedy.

Normally, I would be hesitant about anyone making a prequel to Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but this is the team behind Paddington we’re talking about, folks. In my opinion, both Paddington and Paddington 2 are two of the purest films ever released, and I trust this team unequivocally with the weird and wild world of Willy Wonka.

What do you think about Warner Bros. going back to the well for another film featuring Will Wonka? Where do you think the Oompa-Loompas lived before Willy came along and invited them back to his factory? Was Willy Wonka an Indiana Jones-type explorer before he decided to become known as the Candy Man? I’m excited to find out, and I’m sure that lots of other folks are too.