Film Theory: Willy Wonka Gave Charlie His Golden Ticket ON PURPOSE

2. Bill The Mole

Wonka’s second double agent is Bill the candy shop owner.

Think about it, Bill is a terrible shopkeeper by traditional metrics. He lets kids come in and eat his produce (as long as he’s singing, anything’s free) because he’s not there to make money. He’s there to make sure everyone knows the magic of the Wonka brand and to find a local child that Wonka can bring in to train as his replacement.

It makes sense for him to choose a local, rather than someone random from anywhere else in the world because of the logistics of moving them into the factory. And by having Bill monitor the kids, he can find someone who matches everything he wants in his replacement.

And it’s not like Bill giving Charlie the ticket is all that subtle. When Charlie finds the money, his selfless act of wanting to buy a chocolate bar for his grandfather confirms finally that he is Wonka’s Chosen One. In that scene, you’ll notice that the first time Charlie asks for a bar, Bill offers him either a Slugworth OR a Wonka, but after Charlie proves his selflessness, Bill doesn’t give him a choice. He literally hands Charlie a bar - the display bar from behind the counter, in fact, which in itself is suspicious - which only he could have access to and no child could choose at random.

And it’s definitely no accident that Wonka admits to knowing all about Charlie when they meet. He says nothing like that to the other kids, despite them being all over the press. And Charlie finds his ticket a single day before the factory opens its doors to the winner - when exactly could Wonka have read about him? Is he actually giving the game away that he’s had regular reports from Bill? The evidence is definitely there.

But why would Wonka hand over his factory to someone entirely unequipped to handle running it?