Does Netflix Know What It’s Doing With Roald Dahl?

Netflix acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company in 2021—but it’s been tapping into the author’s vast catalogue since 2018, when it inked an animation-specific deal to bring his work to the streamer. However, when you think “Roald Dahl,” Netflix isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind; lately, the immediate association is either “Timothée Chalamet” or “off-brand, AI-generated attraction that went viral for being so amazingly terrible.”

That’s not to say the streamer has forgotten about its valuable and expensive IP (in 2021, the Hollywood Reporter noted that while terms of the full catalogue-rights deal were not made public, the 2018 animated deal was for a reported “nine figures”). Projects created under its umbrella have included 2022’s Matilda the Musical, starring Emma Thompson and Lashana Lynch; Wes Anderson’s 2023 The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which won a short-film Oscar and was followed by three more Dahl shorts also directed by Anderson; and animated film The Twits, due later this year from Phil Johnston (Ralph Breaks the Internet).

And now, Netflix has announced its latest Dahl project, its first to make use of arguably Dahl’s most popular creation: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (As THR points out, Chalamet’s Wonka film, released in late 2023, pre-dated the Dahl-Netflix deal.) Weirdly, though, it takes a cue from another of Netflix’s big-ticket franchises, Squid Game, in the form of a reality competition called The Golden Ticket.

While Squid Game: The Challenge was both controversial and confusing, it was also a big hit—and you see how some enterprising producer was able to pull “game show” out of Dahl’s original book, which follows a group of kids and their parents who, after snagging those elusive golden tickets, find themselves in the running to inherit Willy Wonka’s fantastical factory. Unlike the fictional Squid Game, the also-ran characters in Chocolate Factory aren’t cut down with machine guns, but they do face some grim consequences—including being dumped down a garbage chute and turning into a giant blueberry.

The Golden Ticket is still in the casting phase, but Netflix is only considering applicants 18 and up, so no actual children will be put through its paces. Details are scarce this early in the process, but a press release posted on the streamer’s Tudum site bills The Golden Ticket as “an all-new reality competition inspired by the bold and imaginative universe of Wonka.”

It continues: “Just like Charlie Bucket and the other children in Roald Dahl’s original 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a group of lucky contestants will have the chance to step into the whimsical wonderland—and to enter, you’ll need a coveted golden ticket. To achieve sweet success in this high-stakes social experiment, players will have to adapt and strategize, as a golden ticket only gets you so far. Wonka’s guests must withstand games, tests, and temptations designed to prove their instincts, resilience, and ability to thrive in the chaos of a retro-futuristic dreamscape.”

Oompa-Loompas not included, apparently, though there’s always a chance your Netflix addition might come back to haunt you, a la poor Mike Teevee. You can check out how to apply for the show at the casting website, which brings some Squid Game connotations back into the picture by calling The Golden Ticket “a social experiment like no other” and promising a “huge prize.” What could go wrong?

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