Taika Waititi Is Going Full Willy Wonka With Two New Charlie And The Chocolate Factory Series

Get prepared to step into a global of pure imagination. Taika Waititi is bringing his vision of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Netflix.


According to Variety, Academy Award winner Waititi is working alongside the platform on a pair of series: one based on the popular book by Roald Dahl and another set to explore the Oompa-Loompas, the small human beings who Willy Wonka rescued from Loompaland and brought them to work at his factory.


Waititi will write, direct, and executive produce the two new series, which will both be animated, though there aren't several further specifics behind that.


"The shows will retain the quintessential spirit and tone of the original story while building out the world and characters far in back of the pages of the Dahl book for the very first time," Netflix mentioned of the upcoming series.


This isn't the last bit of the Roald Dahl universe that we'll visualize coming to Netflix, either. Stories like Matilda, The Twits, and The BFG are a segment of a "extensive partnership" between the platform and The Roald Dahl Story Company.


"Finding just the correct creative partner to bring Willy Wonka, Charlie, and the Oompa-Loompas to life in animation was a daunting task...Until Taika walked into the room," mentioned Netflix Vice President of Original Animation Melissa Cobb. "Then, it was really obvious. If Dahl had congregated a character of a filmmaker to adapt his work, I’m pretty sure he would have created Taika."


"In the words of Willy Wonka himself – we are ‘Delighted! Charmed! Overjoyed!’ With Taika’s appointment on this project," reported Gideon Simeloff, for the Roald Dahl Story Agency. "There is something undeniably Wonka-esque about Taika’s creative flair and inimitable sense of humor and we cannot think of anyone more properly suited to leading the creative charge on these first of their kind, feature excellent Netflix shows."


There's currently no timeframe, it appears, for any time we can expect these series to debut. Yet the idea that they'll soon exist is sure to send several Dahl fans feeling as though they're floating along on fizzy lifting drinks.