Gene Wilder’s Voice Resurrected by AI for Netflix’s Willy Wonka Competition Series; Late Actor’s Wife Gives Blessing

By Corbin Bolies

Corbin Bolies

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It’s an AI-fueled return to the Chocolate Factory. Netflix has partnered with the AI audio firm ElevenLabs to recreate the voice of actor Gene Wilder, who originated the character’s live-action look in 1971’s “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and who died in 2016, for its new unscripted reality show “Wonka’s The Golden Ticket.” 

The show, which premieres on Sept. 23 and is produced by Eureka Productions, will see 12 “Golden Ticket” winners and their selected partners enter a version of Wonka‘s Chocolate Factory to compete in a series of games over nine episodes inspired by the film and Roald Dahl’s “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.” Netflix promises the show’s one winner will leave with “Wonka’s life-changing prize.” (No word on a lifetime supply of chocolate.)

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