Timothée Chalamet Seen as Willy Wonka as He Films Upcoming Prequel in England

Timothée Chalamet is hard at work.

The 26-year-old Dune actor plays a younger version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory figure Willy Wonka in the upcoming film titled Wonka. Chalamet was photographed filming in Oxford, England, on Wednesday, working on a scene with costar Calah Lane.

Wonka is being directed by Paddington filmmaker Paul King. The movie also stars Olivia Colman, Sally Hawkins, Keegan-Michael Key, Natasha Rothwell, Matt Lucas and Rowan Atkinson.

In October, Chalamet told TIME that he'd done some recording at London's iconic Abbey Road studio for the movie. He added about the movie at the time, "It's not mining the darker emotions in life. It's a celebration of being off-center and of being okay with the weirder parts of you that don't quite fit in."

Willy Wonka, the character created by author Roald Dahl, has previously been portrayed on the big screen by Gene Wilder in 1971 classic and Johnny Depp in the 2005 Tim Burton adaptation. Unrelated to this project, Netflix is also working on a "series based on the world of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" with Oscar winner Taika Waititi.

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In July, stars of the original Willy Wonka movie musical told PEOPLE they were excited to see the new iteration.

"As Julie likes to say, 'There's room for all of us. We can all play well together in the sandbox,' " Peter Ostrum, who played Charlie Bucket, said at the time. "And the prequel will shed more light on early Wonka."

"But again, there's been so many different versions of Willy Wonka, be it on Broadway, opera, a pinball machine … you can't kill the Willy Wonka story," he added. "So all of it is good. It's a great story. And people enjoy whatever different version they're watching; it's fun to watch. So I think we're all looking forward to the prequel."

Wonka is scheduled to open on March 17, 2023.