Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is back again! With Kate Winslet and Nicola Coughlan joining, who’s playing Willy Wonka this time?

Purple top hats, golden tickets, and a factory crammed with candy—you probably don’t even need the title to know what it is. From Gene Wilder to Johnny Depp to Timothée Chalamet, Willy Wonka returns in a completely different form with nearly every generation. Now, the chocolate factory is about to open its doors again.

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First of all, this isn’t a remake of the Johnny Depp version.

Seeing “Chocolate Factory,” it’s easy to assume Netflix is remaking Roald Dahl’s classic novel again. That’s not the case. “Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory” is a brand-new animated film set in the Willy Wonka universe, rather than a remake of the 1971 Gene Wilder film or the 2005 Tim Burton and Johnny Depp version. Its lead isn’t even the Charlie Bucket we know.

This time, the character voiced by “Heartstopper” actor Kit Connor is named Charlie Paley, while Taika Waititi voices Willy Wonka. The story follows Charlie Paley and a group of street children known as “The Orphans,” who are accidentally drawn into an adventure connected to the Wonka chocolate factory. In other words, it’s more like reopening the familiar chocolate factory to tell a new story.

The voice cast alone is already impressive

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Netflix’s newly announced voice cast could practically make up a red-carpet lineup. Along with Kit Connor and Taika Waititi, the new additions include Kate Winslet, Nicola Coughlan, Charithra Chandran, Helena Bonham Carter, Samson Kayo, and Christopher Chung. Perhaps the most interesting is Helena Bonham Carter: those familiar with Tim Burton’s 2005 “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” may remember that she played Charlie’s mother, Mrs. Bucket.

Returning to the Chocolate Factory universe more than 20 years later already feels like a little Easter egg, while the addition of “Bridgerton” co-stars Nicola Coughlan and Charithra Chandran gives the voice cast another familiar connection.

From Johnny Depp to Timothée Chalamet, every generation has its own Wonka

Perhaps the most appealing thing about this character is that there is no single right answer. Gene Wilder’s Wonka was elegant and inscrutably odd; under Tim Burton’s direction, Johnny Depp made him stranger, more fairy-tale-like, and even a little darker. Timothée Chalamet’s “Wonka,” meanwhile, returned to his younger years and told the story as a brighter musical fantasy.

Now it’s Taika Waititi’s turn. Just imagining his signature absurd, humorous, slightly strange style makes you curious about what this animated Willy Wonka will be like. Netflix also isn’t releasing it straight to streaming: the film will first open in theaters worldwide, with a theatrical window of about 47 days, before arriving on Netflix. That suggests the platform has significant expectations for the scale of this animated film.

The chocolate factory is opening its doors again. Would you still want to step inside?

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From 1971, 2005, and 2023 to 2027, more than half a century has passed, and each generation of viewers seems to have its own Willy Wonka. Perhaps what makes “Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory” worth looking forward to is that it doesn’t simply cast another actor to put on Johnny Depp’s purple coat. The same chocolate factory is getting ready to open its doors in a completely different way.

Netflix has officially announced that the animated film “Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory” is set to open in theaters worldwide on November 5, 2027, before arriving on Netflix on December 22.

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