Update: WB denies Wonka 2 is stuck in chocolate pipeline

Oompa Loompa do-ba-dee-doo, delayed indefinitely, is Wonka 2. Oompa Loompa do-ba-dee-dee, that's according to writer Simon Farnaby.

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  August 7, 2026 | 1:34pm
Screenshot: YouTube
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Update: WB denies Wonka 2 is stuck in chocolate pipeline

Charlie Bucket’s lazy, bedridden grandparents have been given more permission to stay put. Joining Barbie 2 on Warner Bros.’ island of misfit sequels, Wonka 2 has been “delayed indefinitely,” screenwriter Simon Farnaby tells Variety. The 2023 blockbuster, which finally answered how Willy Wonka went from small-business owner to well-to-do Oompa Loompa slave owner, earned $634 million worldwide and was earmarked for a sequel. However, clogging the development tube like a glutinous Gloop, Timothée Chalamet has been especially difficult to schedule in his post-Complete Unknown pursuit of greatness. Farnaby, whose latest critical darling, The Magic Faraway Tree, opens later this month, insists that Chalamet would like to throw on the child-torturing top hat again but “he’s not sure about timing or what he wants to do next.” After Dune: Part Three, the only announced project on Chalamet’s slate is Illumination’s animated sci-fi adventure, Not Alone. As of last March, Chalamet is also developing Playground, based on the best-selling book about coming of age in the AI age. 

Wonka is yet another sequel to a 2023 blockbuster that Warner Bros. can’t get off the ground. Earlier this week, reports of stinginess on the studio’s part have held up a deal for Barbie 2, and if that isn’t settled soon, the rights will revert to Mattel, which will have to start from scratch with a plastic mold sans Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, and Ryan Gosling. Meanwhile, in yesterday’s shareholder earnings call, CEO David Zaslav tried to quell concerns over WB’s disappointing 2026 with a desperate, “We do have Cat In The Hat coming.” And, to be fair, cats in hats—and a distinctive stovetop hat, no less—tend to make an ungodly amount of money, which will have to tide investors over until Jim Carrey’s The Jetsons hits theaters. Still, the studio might want to get Wonka 2 out there before Chalamet gets any older and the studio replaces him with Netflix’s AI Gene Wilder bot, the perfect, non-union host for the streamer’s Willy Wonka game show. 

Update 4/7/2026: In a statement, both Warner Bros. and Farnaby deny reports that the film has been delayed. “Reports suggesting a Wonka 2 delay are entirely false,” a WB spokesperson wrote in a statement. “The Wonka creative team is hard at work on the next chapter.” For his part, Farnaby tweeted, “Just wanted to clear up some rumours about Wonka 2 after my Variety interview. My quotes were taken little [sic] out of context by some people. I 100% did not say Wonka 2 wasn’t happening. A sequel was always the plan. Everyone is working really hard on it. WB are committed.”

 
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