A mere 23 years later and we’re back with Aardman for the Chicken Run sequel, Dawn of the Nugget (Picture: Aardman/Netflix)

We’ve had to wait until December – and, in fact, nearly 25 years – but thanks to Aardman and Netflix, Ginger, Rocky, and their flock of feathered friends are back once more with another grand escape plan in the sequel to 2000’s Chicken Run.

The hotly-anticipated stop-motion animated comedy, six years in the making, finds our plucky heroes (newly-cast Thandiwe Newton and Zachary Levi) with their hatchling Molly (Bella Ramsey) in tow, as well as the welcome return of classic characters like Babs (Jane Horrocks), Bunty (Imelda Staunton) and Mac (Lynn Ferguson).

While film fans were very excited to see the first trailer unveiled for Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget in September – especially as it heralded the surprise return of iconic villain Mrs Tweedy – it also sparked backlash in some quarters as many mourned the loss of original voice actors like Julia Sawalha as Ginger.

Fans called her recasting ‘criminal’ and ‘unfair’ as the actress, alongside Mel Gibson’s Rocky, was replaced for the new film.

It was a move that Sawalha herself described as leaving her feeling ‘plucked, stuffed and roasted’ after she was reportedly axed for ‘sounding too old’.

However, Sam Fell, who has taken over the reins on the franchise from original directors Nick Park and Peter Lord, has now explained why it was decided they would bring in fresh voice talent.

The Oscar-nominated filmmaker, whose credits include ParaNorman and Flushed Away, said he found nothing wrong with the ‘great’ casting of the first movie, which he ‘adored’.

However, owing to the 23 years that passed since the first Chicken Run came out, he saw his film ‘as a reboot, more than just a sequel’.

Director Sam Fell is at the helm for this one, replacing Nick Park and Peter Lord (Picture: Getty)

The production had a casting director on board already, who found the ‘amazing’ Last of Us star Bella Ramsey for the central new role of Ginger and Rocky’s daughter, Molly.

‘So while we were there, I thought it’s [been] that much longer, it seems fair to consider the whole picture and just think, is this still the best fit for this new story? The characters are evolving, certainly the central characters, and Ginger’s evolved in this film. It’s a new chapter. It’s a new challenge,’ he told Metro.co.uk.

‘And in these lists the casting director put forward, Thandiwe Newton just popped out to me personally as an amazing choice. I love the sound of her voice, the music.’

As to why he felt the Line of Duty and Mission: Impossible 2 actress worked so well to play Ginger, Fell pointed to one of her most recent celebrated roles as something that convinced him she had the ‘strength and vulnerability’ to play the chicken now she’s a parent.

‘She’s a strong freedom fighter but being a parent and having a daughter makes you vulnerable – and I really saw that in Thandiwe in Westworld I felt, so I just made my choices.’

Lead character Ginger was originally voiced by Julia Sawalha (Picture: DreamWorks)

However, for Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, she was one of a few actors replaced, which left her feeling ‘devastated and furious’ (Picture: Getty)

Fell has now explained why he chose Thandiwe Newton to be the new Ginger (Picture: Getty)

‘It takes me a long time to make a film – this has taken six years – and I hope that this film is going to last for decades. So, I think on those big time frames, really,’ he added.

Fell acknowledged that he had felt a mixture of excitement and pressure while guiding Dawn of the Nugget through its development and release for Aardman – as well as a ‘personal kind of responsibility’ towards Park and Lord, who he has known for years, to not mess it up.

‘But I also wanted to try and find a way that I can feel comfortable with evolving it into something new and making it for these times now and for a new audience – and for myself as well.

‘It’s taken a while to find that balance, and to find the confidence to make some changes and evolve it in the right way and know what to keep.’

The director knew he was not interested in simply making a ‘homage’ and being ‘too precious’ to alter things, but instead focused on Dawn of the Nugget being ‘a new thing in itself’.

As the title makes no surprise about, the chickens are facing the threat of a more modern phenomenon than pies this time, with Fell calling it ‘a bigger, badder threat for chicken kind’ as they looked to ‘scale up the challenge’ for the sequel.

The director considers Dawn of the Nugget more of a reboot than a sequel (Picture: Aardman/Netflix)

He also admitted to feeling pressure and excitement to be inheriting the second movie from its original filmmakers, Nick Park (L) and Peter Lord (R) (Picture: Karwai Tang/WireImage)

‘The chickens are the heroes, so I put myself in a chicken’s point of view,’ he said.

However, releasing it into the world over two decades after the first, when society has not only fully embraced vegetarianism, but veganism too, is this the film that could put audiences off consuming chickens and have them turning away from their favourite fast food chains?

Fell reveals that he did, indeed, become vegetarian during the process of making Dawn of the Nugget, and joked: ‘Maybe it’ll help them promote their vegetarian options?’

He’s clear that he’s not ‘here to preach’ though.

‘People love eating nuggets it seems, so I don’t think everyone’s going to suddenly stop – and we want the film to be engaging and entertaining and a great ride, mostly.

With Rocky and Ginger hatching their adorable daughter, could this Chicken Run turn fans vegan? (Picture: Aardman/Netflix)

As the tagline goes: ‘This time, they’re breaking in!’ (Picture: Aardman/Netflix)

Rocky is now voiced by Zachary Levi, while Romesh Ranganathan and Daniel Mays are Nick and Fetcher (Picture: Aardman/Netflix)

‘But yes, if you come away and you think a little bit more like a chicken by the end of it, then that’s not a bad thing.’

In terms of the reintroduction (and revamping) of the evil Mrs Melisha Tweedy, Fell shared that her shock reappearance made sense when they refocused their efforts on making the heart of the story about Ginger and the challenge of motherhood rather than Rocky after a couple of years of going ‘slightly down the wrong path’.

He was also inspired by rather a surprising science fiction action film as he considered Ginger’s arc as a dramatic character and how the past and Tweedy would ‘haunt her’.

‘I looked at Aliens – Ripley just doesn’t want to go back down to the planet. It’s quite a strong thing to have your subconscious be haunted. And obviously, you need to go and face that challenge and deal with it, so it felt right to do the rematch with her nemesis.’

Fell was ‘so excited’ to bring Mrs Tweedy back, especially as he agrees with most fans that she is one of the all-time classic animated villains. (‘She’s up there with Cruella.’)

Dawn of the Nugget found unexpected inspiration in Aliens (Picture: Aardman/Netflix)

Mrs Tweedy’s back, and this time she’s a supervillain to vanquish (Picture: Aardman/Netflix)

We all know just how much painstaking effort goes into an Aardman stop-motion film – and none of that is missing in Dawn of the Nugget.

The central break-in sequence of the film’s premise was the most complicated and long-winded to film, with Fell estimating it took over a year to shoot the five minutes it spans, thanks to the varying scales, water, fireworks, complicated logistics and its fast-cutting nature.

The only nod to newer technology is a little help courtesy of CGI in the background, but otherwise it is business as usual for the animation studio – a 350-person crew, thumb prints and all.

There’s even a fabulous Wallace and Gromit Easter egg with a fleeting cameo from Feathers – another classic baddie – to keep an eye out for.

And for Fell, the ‘mistakes’ and human aspects are the best bits of the film – so much so, that he deliberately included a tape measure in one shot near the end of Dawn of the Nugget, which was left there by accident by a crew member.

Aardman remains at its thumb print-covered best (Picture: Aardman/Netflix)

‘I just decided to leave it in in the end because as the world’s getting more polished and technology’s moving us more and more from ourselves, I quite like the mistakes. I like the thumb prints,’ he revealed.

In fact, thumb print spotters, these were even a deliberate element from the team.

‘We encourage it more because in the first film they kept cleaning the thumb prints off because they were so worried about making something for the big screen for the first time, but I love all the human mistakes and bits and bobs.’

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is set to release on Netflix on December 15.

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We’ve waited 23 years for the return of Ginger and Rocky in Chicken Run’s second outing.