Who Is The Unknown? Willy Wonka's Viral Villain & His New Horror Movie Explained
Is the social media sensation known only as "The Unknown" getting its own movie? Maybe!
Bloody Disgusting has reported that the baffling cloaked character seen at the disastrous Glasglow Willy Wonka experience (which, of course, was predicted by "The Simpsons") will be the center of its own film by Scottish production company Kaledonia Pictures. It is important to note that the project is the only one listed on the official website of Kaledonia Pictures, as the production company does not appear to have ever released a movie before — so whether or not this comes to fruition is anyone's guess as of this writing.
Still, it's not entirely surprising that this character — which, it's also important to note, is never and has never been a part of the Willy Wonka canon, which is precisely why it went viral — could possibly be getting its own movie. The Unknown is a bona-fide internet hit and has been making waves on X (formerly known as Twitter) and TikTok, and in the right hands, a pretty funny horror flick could come out of this. But let's back up. What even is The Unknown?
Wait, what the heck is The Unknown?
The Unknown is a viral and hilariously strange aspect of the Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow, which lured parents and children to an event promising wonders worthy of Roald Dahl's original book ... only to radically disappoint every single attendee in the weirdest possible way. Ticketholders arrived to find a nearly empty warehouse with depressing decorations and a few baffled actors who were given absolutely no direction and a script that was apparently written by artificial intelligence. The kids who showed up were reportedly given about two pieces of candy and a tiny bit of lemonade, and the entire thing was so traumatic that someone ended up calling the Scottish police.
Then there's The Unknown, who, per videos from the event, popped out from behind a mirror and scared unsuspecting kids ... even though it paled in comparison to the horrors found in the original "Willy Wonka" movie. According to a TikTok by Paul Connell, who was stuck playing Wonka, the script offered more confusing details than answers about who or what The Unknown is (which really only explains the moniker of "The Unknown"). As Connell read in his video, "'There is a man who lives here, his name is not known. So we call him The Unknown. The Unknown is an evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls.'" If there is ever a movie about The Unknown, perhaps we'll finally learn if he is a guy making evil chocolate or is simply an evil guy who also makes chocolate.
The girl who played The Unknown spoke out on social media
Naturally, the actress who played The Unknown eventually unmasked herself on TikTok — and she turned out to be a 16-year-old aspiring performer named Felicia. In one of several TikTok videos, she explained that she ended up playing The Unknown at the last minute and that she had to wildly improvise: "So on the day of the actual event, we just got told to patch the script and improvise it, and the only direction I got was to 'act creepy,' so I tried to imagine what a man living in the walls should be like."
@felicia.wishes follow for face reveal tomoz 😋(plus proof x) #wonkaexperience #theunknown #willywonka #willywonkaexperience #willywonkatiktok #maskedman #therealunknown
Beyond that, the teenager said she was originally cast as one of multiple Wonkas before being asked to play The Unknown, and echoed what Paul Connell said during one of the TikToks she made where she answered questions from viewers. When asked if she could share part of the script, the young actress said that she didn't have her copy anymore but confirmed a detail Connell shared about a scripted fight scene.
"At the end of the actual whole script itself, there was supposed to be a fight scene between The Unknown and Willy Wonka but that got scrapped because there's meant to be a giant hoover that sucked The Unknown up. Obviously, there was not a hoover," she said, using Scottish slang for vacuum. "One of the organizers told us 'Just improv it, just do what you want,' and me and the Willy Wonka were like, 'How can we do whatever we want for that?'"
Maybe someday "The Unknown" will hit theaters, and we'll learn more about this rival, evil chocolate man.