Wallace & Gromit are back, Netflix announced Thursday morning.
The pair will get a new film at the streaming giant — although, in the UK, it will debut first on the BBC before coming to Netflix. The studio also revealed some key details about the Chicken Run sequel, also from Aardman Animations, including the cast, a 2023 release window, and new subtitle: Dawn of the Nugget.
Wallace & Gromit creator, Nick Park, will co-direct the duo’s untitled stop-motion-animated movie with Aardman’s creative director, Merlin Crossingham. Mark Burton — known for writing animated films like Shaun the Sheep, Madagascar, and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-rabbit — will write the movie. The animated feature is currently set for a 2024 release date, with early storyboarding already going on at Aardman.
While the new Wallace & Gromit film doesn’t have a title yet, we do know a bit about the plot. Wallace, the cheese-obsessed, sweater-wearing inventor, and his bizarrely proficient dog, Gromit, are back in the workshop. Wallace invents a “smart gnome,” which he quickly loses control of, leaving Gromit to clean up the mess and save the day.
Image: Aardman/Netflix
In Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Ginger and Rocky are back with new voice actors. Thandiwe Newton will play Ginger and Zachery Levi will play Rocky, replacing Julia Sawalha and Mel Gibson respectively. Bella Ramsey will play the duo’s daughter, Molly.
The sequel takes place shortly after the first Chicken Run, with Ginger and Rocky safe on an island after their big escape from Tweedy’s farm. But to save the thousands of other chickens in danger, the crew decides to start a string of breakouts. The film is directed by Sam Fell of Flushed Away and ParaNorman fame, and will arrive exclusively to Netflix next year.