- Wonka was one of the top 10 biggest grossing movies of 2023
- Director Paul King has provided a heartening update for fans
- Potential plotline for Wonka 2 has been teased
Musical prequel Wonka was one of the biggest films of 2023 – and work is underway on a sequel, its director has confirmed.
Wonka, a musical that explored the early career of Willy Wonka – played by Timothee Chalamet – was one of the top 10 biggest films of 2023 in terms of dollars made at the box office. The movie explored how a young Wonka set out to change the candy-making industry and break the corrupt monopoly that ran it.
Script in the works
After such success, it was always likely a sequel would be made. Paul King, who directed Wonka, talking to the Hey U Guys podcast at the premiere of Paddington in Peru, said that a script for Wonka 2 is in development. But the draft is only at an early stage – half of an initial draft, he said – but there was a clear idea for where it was going to go and it is a story idea they like.
Potential plotlines
Wonka 2 would follow where Willy went after the events of Wonka. Wonka was set some years before the events of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, so there is plenty of scope for developing more stories of him before he opened his factory.
King added one tease of a plotline. “I’ll try to get some international travel in it,” he said. That could easily be done – it is known that Wonka chocolate contains many exotic ingredients from all over the world, so he could set off on a quest to search for a particularly rare plant or such like.
Returning characters
Obviously, Willy would return, but it is likely that Lofty the Oompa Loompa – memorably portrayed by Hugh Grant – would also be involved. At the end of the film, he is exiled from his homeland and becomes the chief tasting chef for Wonka.
But, given that it is a prequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, at some point he will have to be reconciled with his people, as the Wonka factory is populated by many Oompa-Loompas. Could that be a way for the sequel to go?
Potential release
This hasn’t been talked of yet. With the script still at an early stage, there are many hurdles to negotiate before production could begin. Then there is ensuring the stars could return. Chalamet is a big star, and this is set to rise even further when Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, in which he stars as the legendary musician, is released. The earliest we are likely to see Wonka 2 is sometime in 2026, but it could easily be later than that.
