Wonka 2: Everything We Know So Far About The Sequel

Released just before Christmas 2023, the big budget prequel "Wonka" pulled back the curtain on the character of Willy Wonka (Timothee Chalamet), in a story set decades before the 1971 Gene Wilder classic, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." The story reveals a young Wonka's obsession with chocolate and his plans to one day create a bar of his own. It establishes just how he comes to found his famous chocolate factory and exposes the sordid world beneath the surface of the candy business, with backroom dealings and sinister scheming on par with gangland Chicago. 

By the end of the film, we see the future chocolatier purchasing what will eventually become his legendary chocolate factory. Though the movie stands on its own, there's a clear undercurrent of "sequel bait" in the ending of "Wonka," and many have been wondering when we might see a sequel — "Wonka 2" for lack of a better moniker. Well, in late 2024, the film's writer and director, Paul King, addressed just that, revealing that he and the studio are indeed hard at work on a second movie. Let's explore everything we know about "Wonka 2" — from its potential release date to its cast, and even comments from King on what the movie might be about.

The biggest question we want answered regarding "Wonka 2" is when we'll see it. The first film landed in theaters at the tail end of 2023, so we don't expect to see another one until at least some time in 2026. But with word that the script was only just getting underway in November 2024, it's anyone's guess when we might see "Wonka 2." 

It's not uncommon, of course, for a sequel to hit within two years of its predecessor, but plenty of franchises wait three or four years between installments, even without any controversial setbacks. Matt Reeves' "The Batman" sequel, for example, was recently pushed back to 2027, meaning five years will have elapsed between the two Caped Crusader movies.

Nevertheless, with director Paul King publicly commenting on his enthusiasm for "Wonka 2" — more on that later — we'd bet on a 2026 drop. That would place it amid a slew of family movies that will blow you away in 2026, including "Super Mario Bros. 2" and a new version of "The Cat in the Hat."

While Paul King has been tight-lipped about what we might see in "Wonka 2," we still haven't learned how the Oompa Loompas came to work at Willy Wonka's factory. We also don't know how Wonka's chief rival, Arthur Slugworth (Paterson Joseph), ends up employed at his chocolate factory. These seem like obvious routes to take for a sequel, while other material could be lifted or adapted from Roald Dahl's original novel, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" – including a never-before-published chapter removed by Dahl – as well as the author's sequel, "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator."

In fact, director Paul King teased this very idea in an interview during the first film's press tour. "The great thing about the [first] book is that Grandpa Joe tells various stories of Willy Wonka from when he was younger," King said in a chat with Zavvi. "Which leaves room for more stories should the world be interested in them."

In a separate interview with Total Film, King mentioned that Dahl didn't just write two books in the series — and he may have access to, and be able to draw from, several unpublished stories partially completed by Dahl. "There's drafts that didn't really go anywhere, and there's a short story," King said. "There's an awful lot more Wonka story that we have that we would like to tell."

With the sequel to "Wonka" still in the early writing stages, and with some characters probably returning, others not coming back, and new ones added, a cast is hard to predict. That said, it's almost a certainty that the previous film's star, Timothee Chalamet, will be back in the title role.

As for a supporting cast, it's possible we could see the likes of Calah Lane, Paterson Joseph, and Hugh Grant returning to their roles of Noodle, Arthur Slugworth, and Lofty, Wonka's favorite Oompa Loompa. In fact, Hugh Grant has said that he hated playing the Oompa Loompa in "Wonka," so he may not even be interested in coming back. Either way, no announcements have yet been made, so the broader cast of "Wonka 2" is still up in the air and subject to change. We expect to know more soon, however, as the film's script is completed and the project progresses.

While we don't know the cast of "Wonka 2" or have much idea what the film might be about, we do know one thing: Paul King will return to write and direct the sequel. Following the success of the first movie, King himself expressed interest in returning in that same Zavvi interview. Warner Bros. wasted no time and within months of "Wonka" making bank at the box office it was announced that King was officially returning to helm a second movie.

In fact, not long after the first movie hit theaters, King told ComicBook.com that he and the studio were already thinking about what comes next. But the director also stressed there wasn't going to be an effort to rush a sequel into production just to hit a target release date. 

"One of the things I love most about David Heyman, my producer, is that he has made so many great movies that he doesn't feel the pressure to just make a movie because it can be made," King said, adding, "We can wait a beat, and if we don't come up with a story, this [first movie] is a movie with a beginning, a middle, and end that works on its own." King also stressed that he has other projects in the works, including a recently announced "Prince Charming" film, so when and where we could see "Wonka 2" is, for now, anyone's guess.