Netflix has released its new competition series Wonka's The Golden Ticket on Wednesday, September 23, bringing 12 contestants into a replica of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory to play games inspired by the 1971 classic film Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory and Roald Dahl's original book.
The streaming platform collaborated with artificial intelligence audio firm ElevenLabs to recreate the voice of Gene Wilder for the show's narration, 10 years after the star's death. Actor Rusty Goffe also returns to revive his role as the head Oompa Loompa for the new series.
It has been 55 years since Wilder starred as the eccentric candymaker in the 1971 film adaptation of Dahl's children's book, which previously inspired a 2000s reboot and a spin-off backstory. While Goffe and Wilder's AI voice appear in the new show, it remains unknown whether any of the original child actors will make an appearance.
The five young actors who starred in the 1971 movie followed dramatically different paths after filming concluded, with careers ranging from veterinary medicine and psychotherapy to accounting and travel services.
Peter Ostrum turned from Charlie Bucket to cattle veterinarian
Peter Ostrum, now 68, was just 14 years old when he played the central role of Charlie Bucket alongside Gene Wilder in 1971. The former child actor once described his pay cheque as paltry and later chose to leave acting entirely to pursue a career as a veterinarian.
Speaking at the Snowtown Film Festival in 2018, Ostrum revealed that he still earns a small income of around $8 to $9 in royalties every three months from television broadcasts of the movie. He noted that the film initially received lukewarm reviews and died a quiet death, earning $4 million upon its release before disappearing from cinemas.
Ostrum told the Daily Mirror that there was no red carpet premiere when the film was released in 1971. He attended an opening in his hometown in Ohio as the only cast member present, recalling that after a little fanfare the movie died a quiet death until video releases 10 years later in the 1980s allowed it to resurface and take on a life of its own.
Trading acting for medicine, Ostrum used his earnings from the film to buy a horse and earned a doctorate from Cornell University. He turned down a potentially lucrative three-film contract with producer David L Wolper to focus on his studies, ultimately specializing as a veterinarian treating cattle and horses.
Discussing his career shift with the Today show in 2015, Ostrum said: "Everybody could be so lucky to have an experience like this and then to go in a completely different direction."
The Ohio-born father of two told the Daily Express in 2014 that filming sparked his interest in medicine despite his modest earnings. He added: "People tell me they watched Willy Wonka so many times growing up that they wore out their VHS copy. We had no idea we were making a classic, which even coined a new phrase: 'I've found the golden ticket.' I will always cherish my memories of making the movie, but I feel I won the golden ticket by becoming a vet."
Julie Dawn Cole's journey from Veruca Salt to psychotherapy
Julie Dawn Cole, now 68, played the famously spoiled Veruca Salt, the character who always wanted more before plummeting down a garbage chute after being judged a bad egg by an eggdicator.
The mother of two went on to establish a long television career, appearing in shows including Fat Families, soap operas Emmerdale and EastEnders, and hospital drama Holby City.
Cole later qualified as a psychotherapist while continuing to revisit her childhood role, starring in the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe production Willy Wonka Revisited: The Veruca Salt Sessions. She also worked as children's services manager at Woking Hospice, where in 2014 she auctioned set memorabilia including a golden ticket and a signed movie contract to raise money for charity.
In 2024, Cole appeared alongside co-star Paris Themmen in Willy's Candy Spectacular: A Musical Parody at the Edinburgh Fringe. The comedy was based on a chaotic immersive Willy Wonka event in Glasgow where parents paid £35 a head for an event in a near-empty warehouse.
Paris Themmen and the career of Mike Teavee
Paris Themmen, now 67, had acted prior to playing television-mad Mike Teavee, but took a break from acting as a teenager "to be a kid." Although he did not fulfill his dream of becoming a television star, he has continued working across the entertainment industry.
Themmen has taken occasional adult television roles, worked in film production and commercial casting, runs a photography business, signs autographs at movie conventions, and makes sporadic appearances in plays, commercials, and shows. He also founded Access International, a travel service arranging charter flights to Europe for backpackers.
Speaking to Collider about filming in Munich, Germany, Themmen expressed surprise that the production imported Hershey bars, Almond Joys, and Mounds from America despite being adjacent to Switzerland and Holland. He described the import as "a bit of a crime against chocolate and humanity," though he recalled enjoying set treats such as marzipan and dummy leaves.
Themmen added that he liked the three-course gum on set, which was actually yummy taffy rather than real gum. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife of nine years, Nikki Grillos.
Denise Nickerson's life as Violet Beauregarde
Denise Nickerson portrayed chewing-gum fanatic Violet Beauregarde, who balloons in size in the movie after chewing experimental gum containing roast beef, baked potato, tomato soup, and blueberry pie.
Nickerson later revealed the role nearly ruined her teeth, developing 13 cavities while preparing for the part by chewing high-sugar Bazooka gum. She appeared regularly on television shows including Search For Tomorrow, The Brady Bunch, Dark Shadows, and The Electric Company before making her final acting appearance in Zero To Sixty in 1978.
Twice married, Nickerson retired from acting and worked as an accountant for an engineering plant and as an office manager at a doctor's office. After surviving a stroke in 2018, she was hospitalized on July 8, 2019, following a prescription medication overdose and died on July 10, 2019, aged 62, after developing pneumonia and entering a coma. Her family confirmed on Facebook that she died in her Colorado hospital bed at approximately 10:30pm local time, writing: "She's gone."
Michael Bollner and the story of Augustus Gloop
Michael Bollner played chocolate-chomping Augustus Gloop, the greedy child who falls into Willy Wonka's chocolate river. Now 67, Bollner lives in Germany and traded acting to become an accountant in Munich.
Bollner appeared in a few German-language films after Willy Wonka but retired from acting because his father insisted he finish his education.
Bollner told Collider that he runs a tax office in Munich and celebrates Christmas with his staff, screening the Wonka movie every two or three years because the film is not famous in Germany and his employees need to know what a star their boss is. He told This Morning that he had expected the film to fade away quickly after shooting for a few weeks in Germany.
He also revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that the famous chocolate river contained no chocolate at all, but rather dark, stinking water that had been sitting for weeks. Bollner explained he was terrified of jumping into the 15-centimetre-deep water and hitting his head on the riverbed while aiming for a three-meter hole.
Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson and Oompa Loompa Rusty Goffe
Gene Wilder, who starred as Willy Wonka, died in 2016 aged 83 following a three-year battle with Alzheimer's disease. He was married four times, with his first two marriages ending in divorce.
Wilder was already a household name before accepting the role, a casting decision that dismayed author Roald Dahl, who preferred Irish comedian Spike Milligan. Wilder accepted on the condition that his character could make his first entrance with a cane and a limp before losing the cane, falling forward, and executing a somersault so that audiences would never know if Wonka was lying or telling the truth. He later wrote screenplays and directed several films.
Jack Albertson, who played Grandpa Joe, died of colorectal cancer in November 1981 at age 74. Before his death, the actor won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1968 for The Subject Of Roses, a Tony Award for the 1964 stage version of the play, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 1977.
Rusty Goffe, now 77, played the head Oompa Loompa and was one of the few cast members to receive an on-screen credit. The Kent-born actor was 22 during filming and recalled feeling proud of the movie, noting that it was made for adults as well as children.
Goffe appeared in Flash Gordon in 1980, Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope in 1977, and five of the eight Harry Potter films before his last screen role in 2016. Paying tribute to Wilder after his death in 2016, Goffe described him as a gentle, quiet, and funny man with a magical aura, before reviving his Oompa Loompa role for the new Netflix series.
