Oscar winner Taika Waititi has a slew of possibilities ahead of him after the success of Jojo Rabbit. Of course he’s doing the next Thor film. And there’s talk of him doing a Star Wars movie after that or maybe taking on Deadpool 3 and he’s still attached to that live-actions Akira. Those are all big, big deals. And then there is the possibility that he stays with something smaller and more heartfelt like Jojo.
Well, we now have news on one more project he’s adding to his docket. Netflix announced that Waititi will write, direct and produce two animated series based on the works of Roald Dahl, specifically his Willy Wonka books. Here’s what Netflix said on Twitter:
Let’s dig into this a bit. Netflix says that the first show from Waititi will be “based on” the world and characters of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. So that means that he isn’t doing a straight-up adaptation but rather he is exploring that universe. Don’t expect a retelling of the tale like Tim Burton did. Instead expect something new and hopefully far superior to Burton’s tone-deaf and useless remake.
Then there is the second series, the one about the Oompa-Loompas. This will be where Waititi gets to go wild and truly create something brand new. I think he will have a blast with the Oompa-Loompas, especially since the show will be animated and free to do whatever it wants. One hopes that Waititi can inject some satire and seriousness into the Oompa-Loompas’ tale since it concerns the plight of native people being essentially forced into slavery. However, I don’t know how daring Netflix is willing to get.
Either way, both of these projects sound like a lot of fun and really within Waititi’s wheelhouse.