Paddington 3 Announces Title, New Director

Dougal Wilson will make his feature directorial debut on the third installment of the Paddington franchise, which is titled Paddington in Peru. The Hollywood Reporter was first to report.

Previously, Wilson has worked as a music video and commercial director. Wilson will be stepping in to take over directing duties from Paul King, who wrote and directed the first two Paddington films, and will be involved in some capacity with Paddington 3--but will not be directing. According to The Hollywood Reporter, principal photography will begin in 2023, filming on location in both London and Peru. This therefore means a significant push back from the earlier anticipated start date of early 2022 that was reported in summer 2021.

Paddington 3 will have a story by King, Simon Farnaby, and Mark Burton. The screenplay will be written by Burton, Jon Foster, and James Lamont. At Cannes in 2021, Studiocanal also shared that the production company plans to invest $1 billion between now and 2024 in the film. The company will also be producing a Season 3 of the counterpart TV series, The Adventures of Paddington.

Plot details are still under wraps, but it's safe to assume given the title that the titular bear will be returning to his native home of the "Darkest Peru," from the character's origin story. It's not yet known who all is joining the cast, or whether franchise regular actor Ben Whishaw will be signing on again to voice Paddington. Everything we know so far about Paddington 3 can be read here.

King will be directing the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory prequel Wonka, which was announced last year. The Wonka reboot isn't expected to hit theaters until sometime in December 2023.