How to watch Wes Anderson's Roald Dahl short films on Netflix

Benedict Cumberbatch and Ralph Fiennes in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

(Image credit: Netflix)

Wes Anderson is now an Oscar winner thanks to his short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. The Roald Dahl adaptation picked up the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at this year's ceremony, marking a career first for the Asteroid City director.

The film dropped on Netflix soon after it premiered at last year's Venice Film Festival along with three other shorts, all adapted from Dahl's short stories – but now they're being re-released.

But which stories are the films based on? And what does the re-release mean for how you can watch them? We've answered those questions right here.

When are Wes Anderson's Roald Dahl shorts releasing on Netflix?

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar — (Image credit: Netflix)

The four films were originally released separately in September 2023, dropping over the course of four days. However, they're about to be repackaged as an anthology feature-length film, titled The Story of Henry Sugar and Three More (Dahl's book of short stories, in which the source material originates, was titled The Story of Henry Sugar and Six More).

The anthology will arrive on Netflix on March 15 and will reportedly have a runtime of 88 minutes. The shorts will still be available to watch individually, though, if you'd prefer to watch them in the original format. Although all the films are based on work by the same author, their plots aren't linked, so you can watch them in any order.

How to watch Wes Anderson's Roald Dahl shorts in release order

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
The Swan
The Ratcatcher
Poison

What are the short films about?

Rupert Friend in The Swan — (Image credit: Netflix)

All four short films are adapted from short stories by Roald Dahl, so we can expect a macabre twist on each of them – combined with Anderson's whimsical flair, of course.

First up, we have The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which follows the titular character, a wealthy man with a penchant for gambling who masters the art of seeing through playing cards to find out what's on the other side and predicting the future through meditation.

The Swan was originally published in the same short story collection as The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. This tale centers around three boys: Peter and his two bullies, Ernie and Raymond. When Ernie gets a rifle for his birthday, he and Raymond head out to a field to shoot some birds – until they run into Peter.

The Ratcatcher, meanwhile, does exactly what it says on the tin: exploring the darker side of human nature, it follows a ratcatcher who has an, um, unusual way of dealing with rodent pests…

Poison, the final short in the series, is set in India during the time of British colonial rule. When the story's narrator, Timber Woods, goes to visit his friend Harry, he finds him sick in bed, claiming that he's been attacked by a venomous snake, and they enlist the help of a local doctor.

Who's in the cast?

Ben Kingsley and Dev Patel in Poison — (Image credit: Netflix)

There's a fair amount of overlap between the casts of the four shorts, with regular Anderson collaborator Ralph Fiennes, who played the lead role in 2014's The Grand Budapest Hotel, appearing in all of them.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Henry Sugar, while Fiennes plays Roald Dah himself. Ben Kingsley, Dev Patel, Rupert Friend, and Richard Ayoade also star.

The Swan sees Fiennes return as Dahl, alongside Friend and Asa Jennings. Fiennes is back again in The Ratcatcher, this time as 'Rat Man', along with Friend and Ayoade. The final film, Poison, once again stars Fiennes as Dahl, with Cumberbatch, Kingsley, and Patel also returning.

All caught up on Anderson's new batch of shorts? Fill out your watch list with our picks of the best Netflix movies to stream right now.