Four new Wes Anderson short films based on the works of Roald Dahl are coming to Netflix in September 2023.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, a 39-minute short film based on a 1977 story written by Dahl, hits Netflix on September 27, 2023. The film recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival and stars Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Rupert Friend, and Richard Ayoade.
What other Wes Anderson shorts are coming to Netflix in September?
Per World of Reel, three other Wes Anderson short films will also be hitting Netflix in September 2023. The Swan, another short story by Dahl originally published in Dahl’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, arrives on September 28, while The Ratcatcher comes on September 29 and Poison on September 30.
The Ratcatcher and Poison were both included in Someone Like You, a collection of short stories by Dahl published in 1953. The Ratcatcher was one of four short stories included in Someone Like You that’s part of a collection titled Claud’s Dog.
“There’s another one that’s in the Henry Sugar collection that’s called The Swan, we’ve done that with Rupert Friend,” Anderson said at the Venice Film Festival, per Variety. “We did a very old one called Poison, which is one I always loved… And then we’ve also done a very, very strange one called Ratcatcher, which is from a book called Claud’s Dog, a kind of obscure Dahl book set in the Eastern part of England. It’s a really rural one, it’s a peculiar story. And they’re all strange. But I don’t really have any other ones in mind. I have some things brewing, but that might be it for Dahl for the moment.”
Friend said that the cast of The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar also stars in Anderson’s other three short films.
“Wes took four of [Dahl’s stories] and put together a smaller troupe of actors: myself, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel and Richard Ayoade,” he explained. “We each play in around two of the stories and kind of change roles. I think Ralph might be in all of them.”
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is receiving a limited theatrical release on September 20, 2023, before hitting Netflix on September 27.