Timothee Chalamet shares first image of him as Willy Wonka

Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Actor Timothee Chalamet offered a glimpse of how he will look in the upcoming fantasy movie, Wonka.

"The suspense is terrible, I hope it will last ...WONKA," Chalamet captioned Sunday's photo of him wearing a top hat and velvet coat.

He also shared a photo of his walking stick, which had a tiny wrapped gift at the top.

The post got nearly 2 million "likes" the first hour it was online.

The film is a prequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp played enigmatic candy titan Willy Wonka in 1971 and 2005 film adaptations of Roald Dahl's classic children's book.

Paddington writer/director Paul King is directing Chalamet as the character of Wonka from a screenplay King wrote with Simon Farnaby, who also plays a role in the film.

Set to open March 17, 2023, the movie will co-star Rowan Atkinson, Mathew Baynton, Jim Carter, Olivia Colman, Tom Davis, Rich Fulcher, Sally Hawkins, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Paterson Joseph, Keegan-Michael Key, Calah Lane, Matt Lucas, Colin O'Brien, Natasha Rothwell, Rakhee Thakrar and Ellie White.