Over the decades, Hollywood has offered up multiple adaptations of Roald Dahl’s work — such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and more — that effectively and authentically capture the iconic stories’ signature whimsical tones and surreal styles. Yet, I do not believe there has ever been a filmmaker better suited to bring the seminal British author’s vision to life on screen than the equally whimsical and surreal Wes Anderson, who first tried his hand at a Dahl adaptation in 2009 with the stop-motion animated Fantastic Mr. Fox, and is now revisiting the author’s world with The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.
The primary storyline of this 2023 Netflix original movie follows a wealthy aristocrat — played by Benedict Cumberbatch — who learns of a man who can see without the use of his eyes that seeks to harness this skill for himself to benefit his gambling habit. It is hard to believe that this new 37-minute dramedy marks the two-time Academy Award nominee’s first collaboration with Anderson, and as it turns out, he is not the only member of the Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar cast joining that club here. Let’s talk about who plays who and what other movies and TV shows you may recognize them from in the following breakdown of this esteemed ensemble.
Benedict Cumberbatch (Henry Sugar, Max Engelman)
Starring in the title role of The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar — as well as that of another character named Max Engelman — is Benedict Cumberbatch, whose second Academy Award-nominated performance (after playing Alan Turing in 2015’s The Imitation Game) came from his last Netflix original film, The Power of the Dog. This is technically not his first Dahl adaptation, having participated in a remote reading of James and the Giant Peach by multiple celebrity as a Covid-era charity benefit, and most definitely not his first literary adaptation, with title roles in the hit series Sherlock, 2018’s The Grinch, and the Marvel’s Doctor Strange movies being his most celebrated credits.
Before becoming a household name, he also played Stephen Hawking in 2004 biopic for BBC (before serving as his vote for 2010’s two-part documentary, Into the Universe) and worked with director Steven Spielberg on War Horse, and following his fame, voiced Smaug in the Hobbit movies, played the Star Trek movies’ new Khan, are appeared in Best Picture Oscar winner 12 Years a Slave. Some of Cumberbatch’s more recent, notable credits include his Emmy-nominated turn as the title role of Showtime’s Patrick Melrose, a memorable cameo in 1917, and 2021’s Amazon Prime original biopic, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain.
Ralph Fiennes (Roald Dahl, Policeman)
For his second collaboration with Anderson after 2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ralph Fiennes is taking on the illustrious role of Roald Dahl himself — which is not his first time playing a renowned author, having played Charles Dickens in 2013’s The Invisible Woman. It is also not the first time he has played a real person in general, having given a chilling, Oscar-nominated performance as Amon Göth in 1993’s Schindler’s List, played fraudulent game show winner Charles Van Doren in Quiz Show the following year, and starred in another Netflix original, 2020’s The Dig, as archaeologist Basil Brown, to name a few examples.
Like Cumberbatch, many of the English actor’s best known roles are also literary figures, such as his second Oscar-nominated role in The English Patient, Voldemort from the Harry Potter movies, the most recent “M” from the James Bond movies, or Alfred Pennyworth in The LEGO Batman Movie. Some the iconic characters he has originated including Harry from In Bruges and The Menu cast’s sinister Chef Slowik.
Dev Patel (Dr. Chatterjee, John Winston)
As Dr. Chatterjee and John Winston, we have Dev Patel, who, curiously has a few things in common with Ralph Fiennes. Dev has also given an Oscar-nominated performance in a Best Pictures Oscar winner (2008’s Slumdog Millionaire), starred in a few movies revolving around hotel setting (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, its sequel, and Hotel Mumbai), and has multiple leading roles in previous literary adaptations — most notably The Personal History of David Copperfield in the title role and the acclaimed A24 movie, The Green Knight, as Sir Gaiman.
Of course, the London-born actor — who made his big break in the original Skins cast — actor also has a few biopics under his belt, namely 2015’s The Man Who Knew Infinity and Lion from the following year. Patel is also know for playing Zuko in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender, creator Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom cast on HBO, and is about to make his feature-length directorial debut with another Netflix movie called Monkey Man, which he also wrote, produced and stars in.
Ben Kingsley (Imdad Khan, Croupier)
Playing the guru whose unique skill Henry Sugar covets and a gaming table runner is Sir Ben Kingsley, who is also working with Anderson for the first time here. Though he was in Schindler’s List with Fiennes and, like Cumberbatch, is also part of the MCU thanks to his controversial role as Trevor Slattery in Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi. Like most of his The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar co-star, the English actor has starred in many a biopic — most famously 1982’s Gandhi, for which he won a Best Actor Oscar — and many other literary adaptations, such as 2005’s Oliver Twist, Disney’s 2016 The Jungle Book remake, and the hit Martin Scorsese movies, Shutter Island and Hugo.
Crime thrillers are another area where Kingsley has thrived, having stunned in 2000’s Sexy Beast and Lucky Number Slevin from 2006, but you can find him in just about any genre you can think of. He’s done horror with Species, sci-fi with A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, and even low-brow comedy with Mike Myers’ The Guru, to name just a few examples of each category, among others. This is also just his latest Netflix exclusive, following 2017’s political satire War Machine, the platform’s 2018 Watership Down miniseries adaptation, and 2019’s The Red Sea Diving Resort.
Richard Ayoade (Dr. Marshall, Yogi)
Appearing in the roles of Dr. Marshall and Yogi is Richard Ayoade, who last worked with Fiennes in The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, Kingsley in The Boxtrolls, and Cumberbatch in The Electrical Life of Louis Wain. He is best known in the United Kingdom as a presenter for unscripted series like Travel Man (which earned him a BAFTA nomination), hilarious TV comedies like The IT Crowd (which earned him a BAFTA win), and directing many amusing projects, including his 2010 feature-length debut, Submarine (for which he also received BAFTA attention).
American audiences might also recognize Ayoade’s face from the 2012 sci-fi comedy, The Watch, or from the beloved family movie, Paddington 2, as a forensic investigator. However, they may better recognize his voice from the Soul cast, from his Mandalorian droid named Zero, as Professor Marmalade from 2022’s The Bad Guys cast, and as the lead in creator Dan Harmon’s Krapopolis, most recently.
Log into your Netflix subscription now to stream The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar on Netflix now. Also, keep in mind, that — according to Tudum — this is just the first of several Roald Dahl-inspired shorts from Anderson and featuring many of these actors that fans can look forward to.
