Ben Whishaw, who voiced the titular bear in both Paddington films, is unsure whether a third installment of the franchise will happen.
The Paddington franchise has been hugely successful and earned critical acclaim, bringing in nearly $500 million in box office worldwide combined, but the second film might be the end of it according to Whishaw.
“I would be up for one, but I think Paul King, who is the writer and the director and instrumental in making those films what they were, I think he quite rightly needs a break,” he said, speaking before a London screening of the miniseries A Very English Scandal. “It’s a tremendous amount of work that goes into those films, so I’m not sure if it will happen. Or, if it does, I’m not sure when it will happen.”
But now King has moved on and is attached to direct an adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for Warner Bros. This might make King unavailable indefinitely to work on a third Paddington installment.
I can’t imagine doing it without Paul. For me, he’s the films. He’s a bit like Paddington Bear himself, I dunno if I could do it without him,” Whishaw added.
You can see Whishaw next in the three-part Amazon/BBC A Very English Scandal miniseries alongside another Paddington alum, Hugh Grant.
