Roald Dahl Originally Wanted Charlie to be Black

Roald Dahl Wanted Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Be Black

Roald Dahl originally intended the young hero of his 1964 book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to be black but was dissuaded by his agent, according to both the author’s widow and his official biographer.

“His first Charlie that he wrote about was a little black boy,” Liccy Dahl said in a BBC Radio interview Wednesday, on the 101st anniversary of Dahl’s birth. She also said the character was inspired by American sensibilities, and that it was a “great pity” her husband acquiesced to the change.

Roald Dahl originally wanted Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to be black #r4today pic.twitter.com/h2P4NkI78f - BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) September 13, 2017

“It was his agent who thought it was a bad idea, when the book was first published, to have a black hero,” said Donald Sturrock, Dahl’s biographer. “She said, ‘People would ask why.’”

Liccy Dahl added that seeing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as her husband envisioned it would be “wonderful,” and she’s not the only one who thinks so.

Responding to the news on Twitter, filmmaker Ava DuVernay ( Selma , A Wrinkle in Time ) wrote, “*raises hand for movie adaptation*.”

And when a fan replied to DuVernay’s tweet suggesting Tituss Burgess ( Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt , Broadway’s The Little Mermaid ) play Willy Wonka, Burgess wrote back, “Ummmmm oh the fun I would have!”

*raises hand for movie adaptation* https://t.co/mhIHybhl2W - Ava DuVernay (@ava) September 14, 2017

Ummmmm oh the fun I would have! - Tituss Burgess (@TitussBurgess) September 14, 2017

To quote Wonka himself , “Hold your breath. Make a wish. Count to three …”

This article originally appeared on EW.com