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Netflix ditches pure imagination, uses AI for its Willy Wonka reality show
Did we really need an AI-generated Gene Wilder voice-over in the new Netflix Willy Wonka show?
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More than 50 years after the release of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, it seems that Gene Wilder is still playing the magical candy maker... despite the obvious handicap of having died almost a decade ago. Netflix has resurrected the beloved actor for their upcoming reality show, with a somewhat bored-sounding AI-generated version of Gene Wilder’s voice guiding contestants through the show’s version of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.
Titled Wonka’s The Golden Ticket, the series sees contestants navigate the most famous health and safety nightmare in film history. A teaser trailer for the series was recently released, which showed plenty of bright colors and a river of what we’re hoping is chocolate and not the runoff from the data center that created the show's voice over. We’ll once again point out that asking people to compete for a prize is the opposite of what Willy Wonka tried to do in the movie (he famously didn’t want someone driven by greed to inherit his company), but the most jarring part of the trailer was hearing Gene Wilder's voice recreated using the magic/horror of AI.
As we said above, Gene Wilder died in 2016, but that hasn’t stopped Netflix and Eureka Productions from getting him to provide the voice-over for the trailer. Using AI (with the permission of his estate), they’ve recreated the actor’s voice and managed to capture none of the wonder or excitement that he embodied in the original film. He truly sounds bored with the idea of leading people through a series of chocolate-themed challenges, which is frustrating because there are absolutely voiceover artists who could imitate Gene Wilder’s voice without forcing anyone to listen to this digital necromancy.
(For that matter, whatever happened to Timothee Chalamet's Wonka, last seen in 2023's eponymous movie prequel?)
Wonka’s The Golden Ticket is airing on Netflix on September 23, 2026.
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